Raw Chicken Served at Lakehead
In October of 2022, The Argus addressed serious complaints against Dana Hospitality, the catering company that runs the residential cafeteria in Orillia. Among these complaints, The Argus uncovered instances of undercooked meat, atrociously small portion sizes, exorbitant prices, excessively limited options, and illogical rules and standards. While Dana Hospitality still has not responded to The Argus directly, students responded passionately to the October article with comments highlighting further disregard for student well-being:
I have an anaphylactic allergy to all nuts and peanuts. When registering, Lakehead asked about any nutritional allergies (which I assumed would be at least a little accommodated), but the only accommodation I get is a sign saying all the food in the cafeteria might be cross-contaminated. I’ve been taking the risk and eating what I know should be safe for me to eat, but the risk of cross-contamination is always there and literally puts my life at risk just to eat the required meal plan. (Cohen, a Lakehead Student)
On January 16th, two students reported a new appalling experience to The Argus: Dana Hospitality served a vegetarian pasta dish with a chunk of raw chicken in it. Bear in mind, all meat ingredients at the pasta bar are supposed to be pre-cooked- not that this dish was supposed to contain meat anyways. When the student brought this to the attention of the staff, they kindly offered to make her another dish. However, after numerous health concerns, can we not ask more of this company? Is it unjustified to ask that Dana Hospitality actually raise its health and safety standards for students that are already paying $5,321.60 for a mandatory yearly meal plan?
Courtesy of Abbie Morrison
Prior to contacting The Argus, Lauren Spadafora, a Lakehead Orillia Education Student, opted to contact Dana Hospitality directly to discuss her concerns. In her email, Lauren raised concerns regarding allergens, the lack of healthy options, the limited eating hours, and the inability to eat meals outside of the cafeteria. For Spadafora, the lack of healthy options is a particular concern:
Most meals consist of carbs, with bread and potatoes as the sides. Aside from apples being regularly kept in the cafeteria and the occasional bowl of melon, I have yet to see any fruit being offered at any time of day. Vegetables are served twice a week at most, and no options are offered to students who ask for vegetables any other day.
After meeting with the Residence and Food Manager and the Dana Chef Culinary Manager, Spadafora said that she felt as though her concerns were entirely disregarded. Met with constant excuses, everything boiled down to the fact that students signed a contract and are being provided with edible sustenance, which means they do not have to change a thing.
Long before Spadafora raised concerns, Larissa MacKiw, a Lakehead student, tried to combat the health and safety issues of Dana Hospitality head-on; this was the first year the catering company was serving on campus. After she and her fellow peers had gotten ill from cafeteria meals, MacKiw began a petition that was signed by students, staff, and faculty members. “This petition I constructed was in retaliation to the change in food, preparation and timing of the food,” she explained, “That year the cafeteria was looking to cut back on the amount of selection students and staff had at the time and would only provide two options for breakfast and lunch and two options for lunch and dinner, and you could only choose one of the two.” Despite so many being on board with Lakehead returning to the previous high quality of food selection and availability, nothing has changed.
Making things worse, The Argus decided to see if MacKiw and Spadafora’s experience was an isolated perspective, and we found something even more surprising. Beyond Dana Hospitality’s dissatisfied customers, the catering company’s staff have been public about their mistreatment, as well. Here are just a few selected comments from Dana Hospitality’s reviews from various locations*:
A lot of chefs in that company have a really bad lack of knowledge of cuisine in general. I think they fill holes as they can at any price, anyway, I don't think any respectable food lover (chef) will want to work for this company. The worst thing about this company is the management...bad management means bad employees and lack of training, and lack of basic food safety. I was working for them, and in a year only, they made at least six mistakes on the paycheck, with no excuses.....and always late payment. Now I quit; I still need to fight to have my 4%... If you're a client, I strongly suggest looking somewhere else; if you're an employee, don't even think about Dana. (Charles R. Theriault, three years ago)
Worst company I have ever worked for. They don’t care about you. You are just a number to them. They will owe you money, and you will never get it. The food isn’t even good. Also, good luck ever contacting their HR department. if you think about hiring this company for anything, I would think again, as they will continually screw you over. I would rather walk through a mile of glass with bare feet than ever have to deal with this company or buy any food from them ever again. (Keagan Reedyk, two years ago)
If I could give 0 stars, I would. This is a horrible company to work for. You can't call in or take sick days off without fear of getting fired. Got hit by a car? Nope, you can't have any days off for that, either. Treats their employees like absolute garbage, DO NOT WORK FOR THEM. (Callie Bree, three years ago)
Did Lakehead not conduct a quick Google search prior to hiring this company? Evidently, both institutions appear to regularly prioritize profits over people.
Well, since we are fairly confident that all parties have been made aware of the health and safety concerns, among all else, The Argus decided it was time to provoke some change. First, we contacted the Lakehead University Student Union, which was notably appalled by the poor treatment of Lakehead students, noting that these complaints have been “incredibly concerning to the student union” over the past few months. In an effort to make our voices heard, they will be bringing this issue to Lakehead executives for further evaluation of the next steps to take with Dana Hospitality. Furthermore, being one of the first to take student concerns seriously, we reported the raw chicken incident to the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit. After contacting the SMDHU personally, The Argus was assured that this issue will be investigated by a local health inspector. We will be heard, Lakehead.
* Some responses have been edited for clarity.