Santa Clara County Department of Environmental Health restaurant inspection reports indicate that, although all on-campus eateries have been cleared as safe, the most recent inspection scores varied considerably between Stanford’s food purveyors.
All dining halls passed inspections with scores in the mid-80s or above out of a possible 100. The highest-rated dining hall was Florence Moore Dining, which received a perfect 100. The lowest-rated dining hall was Manzanita Dining, which received an 84. Co-ops, self-ops and row houses received scores varying from the 70s to the 90s. Of these, the self-op 1047 Campus Drive received the lowest recent score, a passing grade of 70 in a December 2015 inspection.
“R&DE Stanford Dining prides itself on creating a culture of excellence which requires a high standard of food safety and sanitation,” wrote Jocelyn Breeland ’81, spokesperson for Residential and Dining Enterprises (R&DE), in a statement to The Daily.
Breeland said that R&DE has a former Los Angeles County health inspector supervising its food safety program, has a standard operating manual to ensure proper procedures are followed and trains its employees in safe food handling. The head of R&DE’s food safety program conducts daily safety audits, and R&DE utilizes outside auditors four times a year. R&DE also checks its suppliers’ facilities prior to buying foodstuffs to ensure that the source of the food is safe. Food in the dining halls is automatically checked for the right temperature using Smart-Temp data loggers.
Some on-campus eateries received conditional passes (and re-inspections) following their latest county health inspections. CoHo was initially given “conditional pass” grades following inspections in both April and October 2014. Following re-inspection, a regular pass grade was issued due to the major violations being fixed. CoHo’s initial reported violations were related to failing to store food at the proper temperature.
Erick Spades, the owner of CoHo, told The Daily that the temperature issues were due to uncommonly high temperatures and older refrigeration equipment. Spades said that since the latest inspection, CoHo has spent about $28,000 on new refrigeration equipment, has hired a new staff member to ensure food safety compliance and has hired a third party to run mock health inspections to help CoHo ensure it is complying with best food safety practices.
“I believe the health department should be vigilant because we should be confident about what we eat,” Spades said.
Due to similar food storage issues and an unclean ice machine, the food outlet at the Campus Bookstore was given a “conditional pass” grade in November 2014. Following re-inspection, a regular pass grade was issued due to the major violations being fixed.
The worst on-campus initial inspection grade of the past six months belonged to Jimmy V’s Sports Café, which got a 53 and a “conditional pass” after its inspection in November 2015. The main violations were related to improper food storage and the failure of a staff member to wash hands after eating when returning to work handling food. Following re-inspection, a regular pass grade was issued due to the major violations being fixed.
Jimmy Viglizzo, the owner of Jimmy V’s, said that in response to the inspection the employee who failed to wash his hands before returning to work was reprimanded, and the restaurant changed its handling of salad to resolve the temperature control issue. Viglizzo said that Jimmy V’s has had “no complaints or customer sickness in 18 years.”
The Bytes Café received a “conditional pass” during their inspection in September 2014. The main violations were related to an ice machine and inadequately hot water. Following re-inspection, a regular pass grade was issued due to the major violations being fixed.
Some on-campus eateries passed with grades in the 70s, including Treehouse and Fraiche Yogurt. The Faculty Club and The Axe & Palm did better, scoring in the 80s. Ray’s Grill got a 66 regular pass in their September 2014 inspection, improving from a “conditional pass” in May 2014.
Two of the Coupa Café locations on campus received 70s. Coupa Express posted a 97; the Coupa Café on the golf course received a passing 64; and the Coupa location near Green Library got an 84.
Contact Caleb Smith at caleb17 ‘at’ stanford.edu.