Bridgewater, VA – The Kline Campus Center has mislabeled certain food dishes which has caused students to get sick, but students believe that the KCC is moving towards the right direction when handling students’ allergies.
Many students with food allergies have been the victims of the KCC’s false labeling on their food. Because of this, students have fallen ill due to consuming mislabeled food.
One student wrote, “Multiple times throughout this year, I’ve asked about the ingredients of foods labeled ‘gluten free’ and I find out that there is, in fact, gluten in the ingredients. I’ll ask them to change the labels to prevent other celiac students from accidentally eating the food. The KCC changed the labels to accurately represent what is in each food. I am still scared of eating something that could be mislabeled though.”
Frustration occurs from students assuming that a label is correct when it is not.
Another student wrote in about the mislabeling in the KCC and stated, “My first year was not ideal, as even though there were labels, a lot of times they were not correct with the food and I got sick from eating my allergen by accident. Thankfully my allergy is not life threatening, but it is still not something anyone wants to deal with in their primary location for food.”
If this student’s allergy was life threatening, it would be Bridgewater College’s fault for mislabeling their food. Along with the mislabeled food, the KCC does not have a variety of allergy friendly foods for students to eat.
A student explained that, “It’s hard as a gluten free student seeing all of your friends eat an array of food options when I’m sticking to the same salad almost everyday. The frustration of having to stick to a salad or risking their health by eating another option is a chance that students with allergies must take at the KCC.
A student with a gluten allergy explained that the KCC makes eating quite difficult.
“Easy swaps could be made, like using corn tortillas instead of flour tortillas for quesadillas or swapping regular noodles for gluten free noodles!” said a student. “Eating gluten free is not hard, but sometimes the KCC makes it difficult!”
Another student provided some steps on how the KCC could be handling the variety of options for students with allergies.
A student explained, “There has been a wider selection of allergy friendly options for students. It is not perfect now and honestly no place will be, but if they continue in the direction of listening to constructive criticism, I believe that it can get to the point where students with all types of dietary restrictions can be comfortable eating there.”
Ms. Betty, an employee of the KCC, was asked how they handle students’ allergies, to which she replied with, “There are stickers with what is in each food, and if you want to know what is in something, then you can call the chef and he will tell you what’s in it exactly.”
The chef is easy to find and is able to answer any student or faculty members’ questions about any of the food items that are in the KCC. Students and faculty will find the chef saying hello to the students or in the kitchen. If needed, anyone can contact the general manager, Adrian Taylor at [email protected].
The KCC allows students to write comments about what types of food they would like to see more of. They also allow students to write in through an Instagram post about how they are doing and again, what food the students would like to see in the KCC.
