As of November 16, all dining facilities on Fordham’s Rose Hill and Lincoln Center campuses have received “A” grades from the New York City Department of Health. The most recent inspection, on November 16, was of the Plaza Cafe facility, at the Lincoln Center campus.
The top scores are the result of a plan by the University to monitor safety and sanitation practices after receiving three less-than-perfect scores last spring. As soon as the three venues received low grades, Fordham created and began implementing an aggressive plan to correct the problems and ensure they didn’t reoccur.
Broadly speaking the plan included aggressive and continued monitoring, including regular internal audits, effective liaison and communication with Fordham’s facilities department regarding timely responses to work orders and greater presence and preventive work on the part of the University’s contracted pest control service, and continuing engagement and collaboration with Fordham’s student leaders and community. As part of this plan, Sodexo hired a former New York City Department of Health Inspector, who has joined the staff as the food safety specialist. This new staff position is responsible for carrying out the internal audits, and serves as the liaison between Sodexo and the University’s facilities areas.
Jeffrey Gray, the vice president for student affairs, personally oversees the performance plan, in conjunction with the Sodexo management team. Gray instituted better communication between the administration, food service managers, and the students, faculty and staff to collect feedback on issues important to the customers (including hours of service, meal plan options and menu options), and on customer satisfaction in general.
Since last spring the University officials and managers from Sodexo have been meeting and corresponding with students, parents, faculty and staff regarding the inspections and food services in general. As unfortunate as the spring inspection results were, Fordham facilities serve safe, wholesome food in clean settings.
Parents may contact Gray any time with questions regarding Fordham’s food service operations at:Studentaffrs@fordham.edu.
