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UNWELCOME SURPRISE Student launches petition after insects, mold found on food served in campus dining establishments
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Express offering her free food. Creative media production sophomore Ivey Dyson started the petition on change.org after learning of McGraw’s incidents. “When I saw that, especially because Laura is my friend, it just made me upset, because I don’t think that we should pay that much money to have such poor food and poor food services and facilities,” she said. Dyson’s petition proposes a change in the training of the university’s food handlers and a reassessment of its food service facilities. It had 201 supporters on change.org as of 6:33 p.m. Wednesday. “We should be able to bite into a burger without being afraid that
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we’re going to bite into a bug,” Dyson said. Boren released a statement regarding the situation on Wednesday directing food services to “thoroughly examine the situation to make sure the health and safety of our students is being protected.” “I’m hoping within at least the next school year there will be a change in policies regarding … how people are trained and figuring out why there’s a bug problem and why one student had two issues within a month of each other with her food,” Dyson said. Andrew Clark andrew.clarkou@gmail.com
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hotos of university-provided food containing mold and bugs were sent to The Daily and circulated on social media Wednesday, prompting response from OU President David Boren and the creation of a petition proposing a change to university food services’ policies. Pre-dental hygiene sophomore Laura Beth McGraw said she found a cockroach in her chocolate cake at Couch Restaurants Wednesday and a bug in the bread of her sandwich from Crossroads in the Oklahoma Memorial Union a few weeks ago. She said she emailed Housing and Food Services after the cockroach incident and received responses from representatives of Crossroads and Couch
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We should be able to bite into a burger without being afraid that we’re going to bite into a bug. — Ivey Dyson, creative media production sophomore
41 violations for Couch Restaurants in 2015 Recent student photos and video show roaches in university food DAISY CREAGER news editor @daisycreager
Roaches, gnats plus improper food-handling and dish-storing are some of the health code violations found in campus restaurants by the Cleveland County Health Department.
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According to detailed health code inspections obtained from the department, Couch Restaurants has had more violations than any other campus restaurant between January 2010 and Nov. 17, 2015. According to the department’s website, of the 196 total violations reported at Couch Restaurants since 2010, 22 were considered ‘critical,’ or directly relating to causes of food borne illness. Of the 41 violations reported so far
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in 2015, three were considered critical. Inspections of Couch Restaurants on Oct. 20, Sept. 28, June 18 and Feb. 9 all reported roaches in the kitchen area, sometimes alive and sometimes dead. Gnats were also reported several times. Inspections of Couch Restaurants on Oct. 26 and Nov. 12 and 24 reported no violations, but a video circulated Wednesday of pre-dental hygiene sophomore
Laura Beth McGraw finding a cockroach in her chocolate cake at Couch Restaurants. Photos of moldy food and a bug found in a bun surfaced with the video. However, insects are not included in the department’s definition of critical violations. In a previous article by The Daily, K.C. Ely, the chief of Consumer Health Services in the Oklahoma State Department of Health, said items that could cause foodborne illness require immediate action.
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Violations like general sanitation, operating procedures, facilities or structures, equipment design or general maintenance are considered less severe and require no more than 90 days to correct. If the restaurants do not correct the violations within these specified times and don’t apply for a compliance schedule that extends beyond these specified times, the restaurants will be subject to enforcement action, Ely said. SEE HEALTH PAGE 2
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“My dog woke me up to go outside, but when I opend the door and he sawit was raining he just went ‘Nope’ and goes to lay down on the couch again. He must be more like me than I thought..”
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