PITTSBURGH — Students at the University of Pittsburgh are demanding the university replace its food services vendor after being cited for a number of health code violations.
Nearly 2,000 people signed a petition demanding the university replace Sodexo.
The most recent report for Pitt Dining in the Litchfield Towers and Market Central found issues like not holding food at the correct temperatures, employees not washing their hands after wiping their nose and clean utensils covered in debris.
"A lot of people could get sick from that and I don't think it's OK," said Brittany Hardobey, a student.
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Channel 11 looked into reports filed by the Allegheny County Health Department and found alarming results – from cross contamination to employee hygiene.
On Oct. 10 the Allegheny County Health Department inspected the dining hall.
They found 14 food safety violations.
Nine days later – they went back for a re-inspection and found six of the same food violations that had not been corrected.
"Knowing that they continuously come back doesn't exactly make me wanna go there anymore," Hardobey said.
Junior, Seth Anderson, says in his experience, the university has always been fair when it comes to addressing student concerns. And he hopes this time – will be no different.
"It's a little disheartening considering how much money students put into the university, especially to think, when tuition is like $30,000 a year, which is outrageous, you think that they'd be able to put more money into a better quality service for the students," he said.
Channel 11 reached out to the university for comment.
The University is in the process of securing experts—both independent experts and experts employed by Pitt—who will be charged with ensuring that Sodexo is following all necessary food safety processes and plans. This team of experts will effectively expand our current capacity to maintain direct and daily oversight of Sodexo's operations on campus.<br/> In addition, we have required Sodexo to generate a comprehensive plan that will improve transparency, address current inspection findings and reduce or eliminate further findings. This is an aggressive plan – and one that Sodexo is better positioned to explain.<br/> Lastly, we are aware of the petition to replace Sodexo as our food services vendor, and we certainly share our students' frustration. Our focus right now is to make sure these issues are resolved as quickly as possible.