Articles in the Santa Rosa Junior College student newspaper have thrust the main campus' new student services center into the spotlight over questions of food safety and plunged a new food vendor into controversy.
Among allegations by more than a dozen employees of the Milpitas-based company Fresh & Natural Inc. are that the company has regularly served undated, possibly expired food on campus, that food handling procedures were unsanitary, workers were untrained and that rodents and rodent waste have been problems in the kitchen of the Bertolini Student Services Center.
The center opened in January and will be dedicated in a ceremony Friday.
Fresh & Natural has been operating the building's cafeteria and adjacent Bear's Den, the library cafe and three other food kiosks on the Santa Rosa campus under a contract that began last summer.
The contract calls for Fresh & Natural to pay a seven- percent commission on gross sales to the college — to date, about $39,000 — and contribute $2,000 annually in scholarships. That commission represents about $560,000 in food sales.
The 17-year-old company provides food service to more than 50 facilities, including Kaiser Permanente locations, community colleges, government buildings, and commercial and industrial businesses, most in California.
The employees' allegations were made public in a March 29 story in the student newspaper, The Oak Leaf.
That story led to a county health department inspection of the facilities run by Fresh & Natural on the Santa Rosa campus and to a pair of meetings between campus and company officials.
The inspection found no issues with food handling procedures. At the Bertolini Center, however, the inspector did note a “major violation:” rodent droppings in the kitchen beneath a dishwasher, in a storage room and next to food container; a large rodent hole in the ceiling near syrup boxes and another near the oven conduits.
The report also noted a Dumpster with an open lid and, at a the library cafe, substandard handwashing equipment.
In a meeting Friday with campus officials, Norma Moreno, Fresh & Natural's chief operating officer, said the report acted as counterpoint to the recent allegations and reflected well on the company's service.
“We don't have anything to hide here,” she said.
In the case of the rodent problem, Moreno pointed out, the county inspector noted the violation as “corrected on site,” a designation meaning that the company and college already had taken action to solve the problem, and had shown that they would clean up any residual mess, according to a county environmental health official.
Moreno also addressed one by one a host of other employee allegations.
The reports of undated food — in one instance a stall of 30 burritos — were the result of procedures that weren't being followed, she said.
Claims of unfair hiring practices, including the replacement of regular employees with company officials' family members, were unfounded, she said. Family members were simply brought on as “backup, emergency employees,” she said.
And to the claims about unsafe food handling and lack of employee and managerial training, she stressed that each of the campus' approximately 30 food workers went through a supervised food-safety training program.
She declined Monday to provide documentation of that program or training records, saying that such material was proprietary. “I can guarantee you that there were no food safety issues in the cafeteria,” she said Friday of the Bertolini Center. “It was all employee-related .
.
. It's us, internally.”
On the campus Monday, opinion was mixed about food service at the student center and the stir caused by the student newspaper.
“You hear about the flea bombs and not washing hands,” said Rick Hixenbaugh, a student who described himself as an occasional cafeteria customer. “It's scary.”
Others praised the venue.
Karen Loeffler, a student with diabetes, said she put in a request last week that the cafeteria stock unsweetened tea. This week, someone had followed through on that request, she said.
“I've had a great experience,” Loeffler said.
Meanwhile, on Monday two of the employees who were among those to make their allegations public last month called the company's response to their claims “lies.”
Thomas Palmertree and Callista Turner said that before their group approached the newspaper, they met with a local manager, wrote a letter to corporate leaders in Milpitas and met with a campus official.
None of the efforts helped change matters, said Palmertree, a long-time cafeteria worker at the campus.
Last week, after he was quoted in the Oak Leaf's first article, Palmertree was fired. A week earlier, Turner, whose name was on the letter sent to Fresh & Natural headquarters, was let go.
Both workers said they had no record or notice of disciplinary complaints.
“It appeared to be retaliation,” Palmertree said of the firings.
Fresh & Natural officials, in an e-mail Monday, said the employees were let go “due to performance issues.”
Campus officials said that while they could not wade into Fresh & Natural's personnel decisions, they would keep a close eye on the food service.
A follow-up meeting is set for next month to review several fixes Moreno and others outlined last week, including reports by undercover customers, posting of corporate phone numbers and refill forms for soap dispensers.
“They have a business interest in making this go away,” Robert Ethington, the college's director of student affairs said. “I believe they're making good faith efforts to make that happen. And I want to make sure that happens.”
<p>Articles in the Santa Rosa Junior College student newspaper have thrust the main campus' new student services center into the spotlight over questions of food safety and plunged a new food vendor into controversy. </p><p>Among allegations by more than a dozen employees of the Milpitas-based company Fresh & Natural Inc. are that the company has regularly served undated, possibly expired food on campus, that food handling procedures were unsanitary, workers were untrained and that rodents and rodent waste have been problems in the kitchen of the Bertolini Student Services Center. </p><p>The center opened in January and will be dedicated in a ceremony Friday.</p><p>Fresh & Natural has been operating the building's cafeteria and adjacent Bear's Den, the library cafe and three other food kiosks on the Santa Rosa campus under a contract that began last summer. </p><p>The contract calls for Fresh & Natural to pay a seven- percent commission on gross sales to the college — to date, about $39,000 — and contribute $2,000 annually in scholarships. That commission represents abou<NO1><NO>t $560,000 in food sales.</p><p>The 17-year-old company provides food service to more than 50 facilities, including Kaiser Permanente locations, community colleges, government buildings, and commercial and industrial businesses, most in California.</p><p>The employees' allegations were made public in a March 29 story in the student newspaper, The Oak Leaf. </p><p>That story led to a county health department inspection of the facilities run by Fresh & Natural on the Santa Rosa campus and to a pair of meetings between campus and company officials.</p><p>The inspection found no issues with food handling procedures. At the Bertolini Center, however, the inspector did note a “major violation:” rodent droppings in the kitchen beneath a dishwasher, in a storage room and next to food container; a large rodent hole in the ceiling near syrup boxes and another near the oven conduits. </p><p>The report also noted a Dumpster with an open lid and, at a the library cafe, substandard handwashing equipment. </p><p>In a meeting Friday with campus officials, Norma Moreno, Fresh & Natural's chief operating officer, said the report acted as counterpoint to the recent allegations and reflected well on the company's service.</p><p>“We don't have anything to hide here,” she said. </p><p>In the case of the rodent problem, Moreno pointed out, the county inspector noted the violation as “corrected on site,” a designation meaning that the company and college already had taken action to solve the problem, and had shown that they would clean up any residual mess, according to a county environmental health official.</p><p>Moreno also addressed one by one a host of other employee allegations.</p><p>The reports of undated food — in one instance a stall of 30 burritos — were the result of procedures that weren't being followed, she said. </p><p>Claims of unfair hiring practices, including the replacement of regular employees with company officials' family members, were unfounded, she said. Family members were simply brought on as “backup, emergency employees,” she said.</p><p>And to the claims about unsafe food handling and lack of employee and managerial training, she stressed that each of the campus' approximately 30 food workers went through a supervised food-safety training program.</p><p>She declined Monday to provide documentation of that program or training records, saying that such material was proprietary. “I can guarantee you that there were no food safety issues in the cafeteria,” she said Friday of the Bertolini Center. “It was all employee-related .<TH>.<TH>. It's us, internally.”</p><p>On the campus Monday, opinion was mixed about food service at the student center and the stir caused by the student newspaper.</p><p>“You hear about the flea bombs and not washing hands,” said Rick Hixenbaugh, a student who described himself as an occasional cafeteria customer. “It's scary.”</p><p>Others praised the venue. </p><p>Karen Loeffler, a student with diabetes, said she put in a request last week that the cafeteria stock unsweetened tea. This week, someone had followed through on that request, she said.</p><p>“I've had a great experience,” Loeffler said. </p><p>Meanwhile, on Monday two of the employees who were among those to make their allegations public last month called the company's response to their claims “lies.” </p><p>Thomas Palmertree and Callista Turner said that before their group approached the newspaper, they met with a local manager, wrote a letter to corporate leaders in Milpitas and met with a campus official.</p><p>None of the efforts helped change matters, said Palmertree, a long-time cafeteria worker at the campus.</p><p>Last week, after he was quoted in the Oak Leaf's first article, Palmertree was fired. A week earlier, Turner, whose name was on the letter sent to Fresh & Natural headquarters, was let go. </p><p>Both workers said they had no record or notice of disciplinary complaints. </p><p>“It appeared to be retaliation,” Palmertree said of the firings.</p><p>Fresh & Natural officials, in an e-mail Monday, said the employees were let go “due to performance issues.” </p><p>Campus officials said that while they could not wade into Fresh & Natural's personnel decisions, they would keep a close eye on the food service. </p><p>A follow-up meeting is set for next month to review several fixes Moreno and others outlined last week, including reports by undercover customers, posting of corporate phone numbers and refill forms for soap dispensers.</p><p>“They have a business interest in making this go away,” Robert Ethington, the college's director of student affairs said. “I believe they're making good faith efforts to make that happen. And I want to make sure that happens.”</p>