SGA Meeting Addresses Food Quality

Head chef Miguel Morales with 

Maddie Kennedy of TUFit. 

Photo by Hayley Sayrs

By Dana McLaughlin and Sara McCarty

Personnel of the Aramark dining services sat alongside three student executives from the TUFit Health Club at Monday’s SGA meeting, discussing better ways to provide quality food services to Trinity students.

TUFit was particularly interested in coloring the plates of Trinity students with wholesome, locally grown foods.

“Our current goal is that by 2020, 20% of all campus food will be locally sourced,” said TUFit’s President, senior biology major, Hayley Sayrs. As the manager of the newly launched Trinity Market, Sayrs is especially passionate about bringing more locally grown food to Trinity’s dining hall.

“Students have every right to know what they are putting in their bodies,” said Sayrs at Monday’s meeting. More importantly, “they should also know how far this food traveled to land upon their plate.”

Head Chef Miguel Morales, a recent addition to the Dining Services Staff, praised the exciting challenges students’ new food initiatives have created. He said he normally walks around the dining hall every 15 to 20 minutes and students can always talk to him directly if they are not happy with something.

“I’m always there (in Mabee dining hall) to make sure everything is running smoothly, and I want to hear from you,” Morales told SGA members at the meeting.

Morales has already begun to accept TUFit’s challenge of improving the sustainability of on-campus dining by re-integrating leftover vegetables into soup bases and vegetable stock. Additionally, un-consumed fruits are no longer thrown away, but used to make fruit waters and fruit desserts.

These modifications have allowed the Mabee dining Hall to save approximately 50% more food than what they used to, not only decreasing the amount of waste, but also changing the daily operations of preparation, service, and cleanup to make room for these new initiatives.

Miguel Ardid, food service director of Aramark, said that they are “always willing to work with students,” citing the 2006 example of getting rid of Styrofoam after hearing complaints from students.

Ardid mentioned the most effective and immediate form of feedback is the online survey that allows students to voice their concerns and receive responses. “These surveys are incredibility underused despite that fact that they are an incredibly efficient tool for students,” said Ardid.

If Maybee staff do not respond to these messages within 48 hours, the message then goes above them to a higher authority in the company, he added.

Senior student Gustavo Ramos was pleased to learn these easy ways to get in touch with Aramark. “I am very excited about the future about the food, and there are a lot of initiatives that are going to start coming,” he said.

TUFit, under the leadership of Sayrs and her peers, Maddie Kennedy and Molly Lenihan, will continue to work alongside Trinity staff, students, faculty, and various other organizations, such as SGA, to push forward their health initiatives started this year, such as serving fresh plant-based meals in Mabee Dining Hall once a month.

“Dining options will continue to be a primary initiative for TUFit because we want students to know that our focus is not just on fitness, but also in making sure that students have healthy options in all aspects of their life here at Trinity,” said Kennedy, a freshmen.

Various members of SGA expressed their interest in joining and supporting TUFit’s efforts. They also called upon Trinity’s student body to take an active role in demanding that food on campus is locally grown, healthy, and sustainable.