‘I’ve eaten better in prison.’ UC Merced students take staff to task over contaminated food

After a deluge of allegations about contaminated and under-cooked food at UC Merced’s pavilion building, campus officials met with students Wednesday to hear their concerns over the unpleasant meals.

During the town hall-style meeting, university officials tried to calm students who are upset about finding things like maggots, hair and fingernails in their food.

Still, those students Wednesday continued to pressure administrators to improve food quality.

“I’m formerly incarcerated,” said a student named “Johnny,” who spoke out during the town hall, but declined to give his full name. “I spent five years in prison, and I’ve eaten better in prison.”

Other students reported problems they said have long plagued meals served to students in the pavilion.

“There continues to be hair, bugs and bug eggs on the food,” student Ananya Veerpaneni said during the town hall. “Students are growing steadily more concerned with the food and a majority no longer eat (in the pavilion). This financially hurts students as they pay for dining, yet because of health hazards, are paying for food elsewhere.”

University officials like UC Merced Chef Matt Perez and Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Charles Nies took questions from some of the roughly 200 students gathered inside the Arts and Computational Sciences building for the event.

“This feedback that we’re all getting right now is vital to our future operation and how we conduct our daily operations,” Perez told the gathering.“

“Everyone here wants to know what the experience has been like at the pavilion,” said Jorge Rodriguez, student body president at UC Merced. “There have been some pretty grave concerns about the food that’s being served, so it’s really important we host an event like this so students can have their voices heard and have some changes be effectuated.”

The town hall comes months after students started an Instagram page featuring photos of meals they alleged were served at the pavilion building on campus. Some photos also include undercooked meat, rotten vegetables and other problems.

Students have also complained of getting sick after eating the pavilion food. Others have alleged food handlers in the pavilion’s kitchens aren’t trained properly and that there isn’t enough oversight from public health officials, among other concerns.

Last month the campus responded to the student complaints by asking California Department of Public Health to conduct its own review of food quality at the pavilion.

On Wednesday campus officials didn’t make any new commitments, choosing instead to use the town hall as a platform to gather information and answer questions.

For example, when asked about inspections, university officials explained that licensed on-campus health inspectors check food facilities at the school, and then report back to Merced County.

“The county doesn’t send individuals to our campus,” Nies said. “(The inspectors’) license is on the line to do things by code. That’s the way it’s structured on most of the University of California campuses.”

Some students want refunds

Students have also said even though the food served on campus can be shoddy, the costs are exorbitant. A single student can pay anywhere from $4,380 to $5,912 each school year for the meal plan alone, according to the UC Merced residential meal plans website.

Consequently, some have asked for refunds on meal plans they purchased for the 2021-22 school year.

But with costs planned out for the whole academic year, university officials said it wasn’t possible to return any meal plan money to students. They said some of those funds go to uses like additional campus construction that’s planned for the next few years.

“As we look at our long-term pro-forma, we are planning on building new buildings,” said Martin Reed, assistant vice chancellor for housing and resident life.

“We need to build more housing, and we’re planning on building apartments for transfer students and also some housing for graduate students. We need to start building up our capital reserves in order to afford to build more housing for students coming in fall 2024 and beyond.”

A few students said they wanted to see food served on campus from local farmers, particularly given that UC Merced’s in the middle of California’s agricultural heartland.

University officials said administration has had difficulty getting food on campus from local farms, and insurance requirements compel the campus to get food served from Sysco.

“A lot of our local farms don’t carry the level of liability insurance that is required by the University of California for them to come on campus and distribute, which is why they go through Sysco,” Nies said. “That’s what’s put a damper on our ability to locally source. If I could locally source everything, that would be my plan.”

Despite the explanations, some students pushed back on the university’s current policies, advocating for new approaches to acquiring food served to students — particularly those who live on campus and are required to pay for a meal plan plus housing.

“We’re the most innovative campus out there,” said Corbin Farias, a student government senator. “We have the chance to grow and build our own infrastructure on campus, whether that’s through grants, or going through the state. That’s a little ambitious, but I would like to see that.”

Students also asked for more dining options on campus, like vegan and vegetarian choices and more dietary selections for people with medical conditions.

“The pavilion has been a problem for a very long time, and this town hall has been a long time coming,” Farias said.

“I think this is going to be the first step to something bigger and I really believe the students at UC Merced will fight for what we believe in and fight for better food. We’re the youngest campus in the UC system, and we’re fighters.”

This story was originally published April 7, 2022 at 1:46 PM.