The University’s central kitchen at Carson Hall has prepared potatoes – intended for the plates of students, faculty and staff – by washing them in a commercial dishwasher with a chemical cleanser, a University food service employee told the Emerald on Friday.
The practice may have been occurring for as many as three years, he said. His story was confirmed by other central kitchen food service staffers.
The employee, who has worked in the food service industry for 15 years and asked to remain anonymous, said he went to Carson Central Kitchen Chef Doug Lang after he saw the kitchen staff running whole potatoes through the dishwasher using a commercial chemical soap called “Solid Insure.” He said Lang was dismissive of concerns.
“He said, ‘We’ve been doing it this way for years and it’s a very common practice … if it doesn’t hurt the pots and pans it doesn’t hurt the food,’” the employee said.
Lang did not comment on the allegation.
The potatoes, which are distributed to all other University dorm food outlets excluding the independent EMU Food Services, were wheeled in on racks of trays, usually stacked with dirty pots and pans, and usually came out partially cooked from the hot water, the employee said.
The University’s kitchens and food service employees do not fall under typical government jurisdiction or oversight. Lane County Environmental Health Program, which upholds state food safety standards and inspects local food outlets, has an agreement with the University leaving inspection of on-campus kitchens and eateries to the University’s Environmental Health and Safety Director, Kay Coots.
Environmental Health employee Jennifer Pacheco said the reasons for the exemption from county oversight are unclear.
“That’s just the way it’s set up,” Pacheco said.
Coots said Monday afternoon that she had no knowledge of such practices and needed to investigate the allegations.
Amy Bleekman, a Lane County Environmental Health inspector, said the dishwasher technique would raise flags and provoke warnings if it was witnessed by a county inspector at a private restaurant.
“It’s a critical violation because of the chemicals involved,” she said. “It’s a pretty bad idea.”
The proper technique, she said, would be to scrub potatoes in a “produce sink” without chemicals to remove any residual dirt.
A spokeswoman for Ecolab, the chemical company which manufactures “Solid Insure,” said the company does not have any data on using the chemical cleanser with vegetables because it is not intended for such use, but referred to the chemical’s Material Data Safety Sheet. The sheet lists the cleanser as a health hazard when an undiluted quantity, which has a pH equivalent to household bleach, is ingested or comes into contact with skin or eyes.
Lang said Monday that the kitchen had indeed washed potatoes in the dishwasher as a “labor saving technique” after a machine intended to wash vegetables had broken-down, but said the practice was no longer in effect. He was unable to say when the practice went out of use, only specifying that it had ended “in the past few weeks” after concerns were raised. He was also unable to say how long the kitchen staff had been cleaning the vegetable in that manner.
“There’s been a lot of chefs that have run potatoes through the dishwasher,” he said. “If the dishwashing practice isn’t acceptable then that’s something we won’t be – that’s something that isn’t being done.”
Other food service workers in the central kitchen said Monday night that the process had not been banned and would probably continue. They also noted that they had never been notified of an alternative method.
Food Services Director Tom Driscoll said Monday that he had been notified of the situation.
“We checked with Kay Coots and she said we should stop immediately and we’re doing that,” he said.
Driscoll suggested that the “agitator,” the broken machine that is designed to clean vegetables, would be put back in service.
Lang underscored that the University has always placed a high priority on food safety.
“The University isn’t going to be practicing any of those potentially dangerous practices. We put food safety before even flavor,” he said.
The food service employee who brought the matter to public light also implied that the University Food Services has an otherwise strong commitment to food service safety. The kitchen staff are all required to have Oregon
Food Handler Certificates and most have completed the optional ServSafe food safety certification, he said.
Both Lang and Driscoll said Coots was checking the practice with Lane County
Environmental Health Program, even though the Oregon food safety training manual clearly advises to “keep all chemicals away from food.”
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