Leftover Food
UW Dining used to partner with several organizations on and around campus to donate leftover food from the dining halls to distribute for students and community members to combat food insecurity. However, UW Dining has since stopped these partnerships. The dinings halls in order to reduce costs are now reusing food from day to day. A leaked memo read: “This is a great way to help save money! Most students are used to leftover DoorDash that sits in their mini fridge way too long anyways and with the low quality of our food to begin with, they won’t notice the drop of quality from it being a few days old. If someone ate fresh poop and week-old poop, it’s all gonna taste like poop.”
Refrigerating Fruit
A source from Rheta’s Market tells us he was instructed by senior staff to not bother refrigerating fruit anymore. He was told “If you go to a grocery store, how much fruit do you see in the fridge? None! It’s all right there on the shelf or in cans, no refrigeration!” As such, any fruit served will no longer be chilled and instead stored and served at room temperature. When asked how this would impact spoilage timelines, the source said, “huh?”
Washing Dishes
Another source from Four Lakes Market, who primarily works as a dishwasher informed us that her job duties shifted wildly this semester. “When silverware, plates, and other dishes come through the conveyor belt, we’re now supposed to take a look for any leftover food particles. If there’s some, we’re supposed to quickly wipe it away with a tissue. After it’s “clean”, we’re supposed to put it with all other “washed” dishes. Each dish we put through the dishwasher, 10¢ from our paychecks are taken away to make up for water and energy costs.”
Sick Leave
A former Gordon’s employee shared with us that she was fired after calling in sick with COVID. Even after paying out of pocket for a rapid PCR test when a rapid test was not accepted by her supervisor and finding someone to cover her shift, she was still fired. She shared the text she received froThe University of Wisconsin-Madison Dining Services has recently been under fire after ending several food safety protocols in the Spring 2023 semester. The changes, which until recently were kept under wraps, were acknowledged by a short press release from UW Dining, after rumors started on social media. The statement from UW Dining did not go into the specific changes, but rather stated due to the increased demand in the dining halls, certain changes have taken place to “better serve the UW community”.
While UW Dining hasn’t been the most transparent about these changes, thanks to FOIA requests and some trustworthy whistleblowers, we intrepid journalists were able to gain many more specifics about them.
Temperature Checks for Meats
UW Dining normally performs regular temperature checks for any meats they’re serving in order to ensure they’re kept at a safe temperature to avoid any food borne illnesses. However, this practice has since ended. “Salmonella and E. Coli are just myths” according to one senior staff member at Carson’s from a leaked audio recording. “We waste too much time doing it, if it [meat] was cold in the morning, it’s probably still cold in the evening” was another statement from the same recording.
“I don’t care about your fancy schmancy test or how you got some poor sap to cover your 2 hour shift, Gordon’s needs reliable employees! Every single time I had COVID, I still came here to work, even last week when I couldn’t stop coughing!”