Wednesday, September 25,2013 • page 5
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TIM DEWITT I Staff Photographer
After receiving an ail-time iow sanitation score, ARAMARK workers are activeiy trying to boost the hygiene standards of the Colonnade facilities before the Alamance County Health Department re-inspects them this week.
Colonnades Dining Hall lapses on many sanitation standards
Rebecca lannucci and Simone Jasper
Editor-in-Chief and Senior Reporter
C olonnades Dining Hall at
Elon University is working
to improve its food prepara
tion practices following its low health
and sanitation rating by the Alamance
County Health Department last week.
Colonnades and the adjacent 1889 Grill
Room received a score of 82, 14 points
lower than its former score of 96.
ARAMARK, Elon’s food service pro
vider, is holding its employees account
able for meeting the state’s standards of
hygiene before the Alamance County
Health Department re-evaluates the fa
cilities this week.
“Our Dining Services team has im
plemented a corrective action plan to
improve operations, enabling us to be
even more proactive in our practices,”
said Kate Nelson, marketing manager for
ARAMARK.
The county health department in
spects the dining facilities on Elon’s
campus four times a year, holding them
to state sanitation standards. The health
evaluation score from the Sept. 17 inspec
tion was published on the North Carolina
Public Health Inspections database. The
report deducted points for violations of
safe practices, and some violations were
noted as critical.
According to the report, employees
used their bare hands to turn off faucets
and others didn’t wash their hands prop
erly. More than one employee washed
their hands for less than 20 seconds,
when the state requires employees to
wash hands for more than 20 seconds.
One employee dropped a knife on the
floor and continued food handling duties
without stopping to wash his hands after
retrieving the knife and setting it aside to
be cleaned. One hand-washing sink was
deemed difficult for employees to access,
one was out of soap at the time of inspec
tion and another did not supply water
hot enough to kill germs.
The health department also found
foods that were both stored and cooked
improperly. Some crab cakes were cooked
to a final temperature of 139 degrees,
while the state requires them to be cooked
to a final temperature of 145 degrees or
higher. Undercooked seafood can harbor
salmonella, bacteria that cause nausea,
vomiting, cramps and fever.
Shrimp gumbo was not properly
cooled and had to be discarded. Cooked
french fries were stored at 94 degrees,
even though potentially hazardous hot
foods are required to be maintained at
135 degrees or higher in order to prevent
the development of salmonella and other
bacteria.
Three coolers were found in need of