Students opening the online NetNutrition dining hall menus are met with a disclaimer warning about possible missing allergen information in the menus.
The disclaimer reads: “FOOD ALLERGY CAUTION!! Ingredient and Allergen info still in development. Some menu items may have missing information.”
The University of Rhode Island Dining Services added this disclaimer for particular circumstances where allergens may be hard to track, according to dining services dietitian Karen Orabona. If there are unopened trays of desserts in storage left over from lunch services, they may be set out during dinner service and not be listed on the website.
Dining Services uses NetNutrition , a tool that helps organize the menus for many dining locations across campus, listing the nutritional and ingredient information for menu items.
This disclaimer is not a new addition to the website and was put up for students with allergies to be extra cautious of what they eat at URI dining, according to Orabona.
“If, for example, red velvet cake is out tonight and then it happens to be swapped to vanilla cake, I won’t have that information in order to change the food item in our NetNutrition system in time,” Orabona said.
New vendors that carry food for URI can also be a challenge, according to Orabona. Dining Services started working with a new bread vendor this year, which sources from a small bakery. The bakery’s current protocol does not include nutrient analysis.
“We know the ingredients, but we don’t know the nutrient levels,” Orabona said. “So in our system you cannot create a new item to enter into the database without that information.”
Orabona said that the most challenging allergens to deal with are soy and sesame allergens. Soy is an additive in many foods and sesame is a frequently used seasoning.
Dining Services encountered no issues obtaining the ingredient information for each food item, but these occurrences can make it difficult to list exactly what is on the menu, according to Orabona.
“It’s to err on the side of caution,” Orabona said. “And we want students to be able to feel comfortable asking either a manager or principal cook about what is in the specific food.”
To make students with allergies feel more accommodated on campus, Orabona said certified free stations will be implemented following future renovations to the Mainfare Dining Hall. Certified free stations would have absolute certainty that no cross contamination with a specific allergen can occur. These stations would also give students with allergies more options for what they can eat. Construction for these renovations is slated to begin summer 2025, according to Orabona.
Third-year student Kenneth Dunn has a gluten sensitivity and utilizes the gluten free sections of the dining halls. He says there are more limited options for gluten free food in Butterfield dining hall as opposed to Mainfare dining hall.
“The specific gluten-free kitchen area we have is weird,” third-year student Kenneth Dunn said. “It’s primarily breakfast food and cookies. There are other things like buns and wraps and usually pasta, but if those things are out you’re out of luck.”
The staff at all dining services locations have been accommodating and kind when asked about ingredients and possible allergens in food, according to Dunn.
“Having a deli or burger type thing at [Butterfield Dining Hall] would be a big deal,” Dunn said. “A lot of times I often grab non-gluten free food because with my sensitivity I can stomach it, but that’s not an option available to most people [with allergies].”
All managers of URI dining services locations are trained on providing food to students with allergies through the Allertrain program, according to Orabona. The course teaches managers procedures for making food for people with allergies, including increased sanitation and preventing cross-contamination. The online Allertrain course offers a three-year certification for managers once they pass the test.
For information or concerns about allergens in Dining Services, Orabona’s contact information is listed on the NetNutrition website.