A variety of random health inspections of the residence halls ensure a comfortable, sanitary living environment for students.

One of the random inspections, a food inspection of the cafeteria and dining areas, is held a minimum of twice yearly, said Rebecca Smith, assistant director for education and nutrition housing and dining.

Both sanitation and safety inspections and safety audits have been conducted in all five residential dining units at the beginning half of this spring semester, Smith said.

“NIU residential dining is ‘self-inspected,’ meaning we, our department, are responsible for conducting our own inspections, correcting all deficiencies and maintaining all documentation,” Smith said.

Two IDPH food establishment inspection forms are used to evaluate sanitation and safety in the dining halls, Smith said. She said about seven years ago the department worked closely with the regional IDPH director to develop its own sanitation and safety inspection and safety audit reports.

The reports address all of the ordinances used in public inspections, and all inspectors are IDPH certified in the state of Illinois. The regional health department can inspect the facilities unannounced at any time, Smith said.

As part of the department’s partnership with the School of Family, Consumer and Nutrition Sciences dietetic internship program, graduate student interns and future registered dietitians working in the department perform routine inspections, she said.

Inspections and audits are unannounced, and policies for food safety and sanitation policies mandate that the department abides by the Illinois Department of Public Health Food Service Sanitation Code, Smith said.

“There is no preparation for inspections or audits, only constant prevention [of] safety violations,” Smith said.

Nick Voelker, a freshman undecided LA&S major and resident of Grant North Towers, said he believes there are inspections going on, but he’s never heard about them.

“The students are paying to live here as well as eat here, so we should know about any problems that do exist,” Voelker said.

Voelker said the overall sanitation of the towers “isn’t in that bad of shape,” and he has eaten in all the residence halls at least once.

Smith said she has kept records during years of inspections and audits. She said there have only been two or three incidents of scores being less than 90 percent on both categories. She does not have any records of any scores falling below 80 percent. Percentages are derived from the standard set on the forms being used to evaluate the facility, she said.

Upon request, students could access the sanitation and safety inspection records and/or safety audits, Smith said. All records are kept on file.

“Any deviance from the standard is marked, commented on the form, signed by the inspector and the manager and resolved immediately (or within a reasonable amount of time) given the violation,” Smith said.

For example, if a major piece of equipment was malfunctioning, it may take a day for the appropriate repair personnel to respond to the request for search, Smith said. However, she said in no way would the operation of the equipment endanger the safety or security of the food being served.

Grant Towers resident Ron Foytik, a freshman business finance major, said the overall sanitation of the residence hall dining services is “not too bad” and could be a lot worse.

Foytik said he has eaten at every dining hall except Neptune and thinks the only problem with sanitation is the cafeteria utensils and glassware.

“I do not think I’ve had any visible sanitation problems with the food, but I do question how well they wash the glasses and silverware in Grant North,” Foytik said.

Despite student complaints, Smith said the NIU residential dining services has never failed a food safety and sanitation inspection or a safety audit. This means all the dining units are kept at the highest safety and sanitation standards and meet all criteria, she said.

Smith, who has worked about nine years in the department, said it is an “extremely clean and sanitary operation.”