An inspection report from Ram’s Den on Nov. 21 revealed a presence of rodents and rodent droppings, which was the subject of two of five health code violations issued by the Rhode Island Department of Health during a yearly inspection.
RIDOC issued a food establishment inspection to review the state of health code maintenance in the Ram’s Den, located in the University of Rhode Island’s Memorial Union. This November health inspection included three repeat violations and two new violations, to be corrected by various dates. Three of these violations were remedied as of the most recent report on Thursday, Dec. 5.
The two new violations cited in the Nov. 21 report included an uncontrolled rodent issue, to be addressed immediately, and lack of a properly located handwashing sink, to be corrected by June 30, 2025. The former violation reported droppings behind the Ram’s Den’s deep fryer and called for the company PIC Maintenance to continue to work with pest control to see that the issue is remedied.
One repeat violation reflected the same issues in the grill fryolator as well as in the reach-in cooler, with a report of built up rodent droppings combined with food and soil residue as of the Nov. 21 report. This violation was also slated to be corrected immediately. The other repeat violations from this report included improper cooling methods for chicken, to be corrected immediately, and disrepair in ceiling and storage areas, to be corrected by June 30, 2025.
“The physical facilities shall be cleaned as often as necessary to keep them clean and to aid in the current pest control program,” the Nov. 21 inspection report read, citing rodent droppings.
The Dec. 5 follow-up inspection only reported the lack of a handwashing station and structural disrepairs, the violations slated to be addressed over the next six months.
The staff was unaware that the code would show a violation for the handwashing sink, however, as it had not been brought up in previous inspections, according to director of URI Dining Services Pierre St-Germain. Addi tionally, this year’s inspection was more of a “surprise” – notices are given out of courtesy around the day before.
URI dining has been working with Debug Pest Control to try to amend the rodent issue, according to St-Germain.
“We’ve actually been spending the better part of the last, I would say, eight months trying to contend with a rodent population that has boomed between last year and this year, because there was not a long enough period of hard freeze last year,” St-Germain said. “So what normally would have killed off a certain percentage of that population didn’t.”
The rodent infestation is not unique to the Ram’s Den, however – the problem extends throughout the Memorial Union, according to St-Germain.
URI is classified as a “rural university,” meaning that rodents are more common on the grounds and in nearby fields, according to St-Germain. Campus construction can drive these rodent populations above ground, in particular with the recently-completed steamline construction project that uprooted the ground outside the Memorial Union. This, combined with cracks in the building itself, allows pests to enter more readily.
“There was a point where we were bringing in the pest control daily,” St-Germain said. “Most of the places we feel like [now] have been sort of held at bay. But then again, if it’s not being holistically done, if the whole building is not being addressed, then it’s hard for one segment of it to be managed.”
The Ram’s Den primarily relies on student workers to keep their food stations clean, according to St-Germain. While there are limited housekeepers that assist with cleaning the seating area, students are required to note rodent citings in a pest control log.
“The students are just going to have to be more diligent when they’re closing the operation at night and when they’re opening in the morning, to see if there’s any signs of issue, and if so, where they are, and can have that noted in the log,” St-Germain said.
The university is planning a series of renovations within the Ram’s Den this upcoming summer that will help remedy some of the reported violations, according to St-Germain. Renovations will largely consist of structural repairs and replaced equipment.