No more mystery meat

Currently, patrons of Columbia Dining Services have no way of knowing what is in their food. But starting next semester, Dining Services plans to post nutritional information about its products online. This is a commendable step, but in order for this policy to be effective, Dining Services should also make this information available in dining halls themselves so that diners have nutritional information at the ready when they choose what to eat.

Dining Services already provides some nutritional information in Dining Halls. Gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, and organic foods are identified online and in the halls with specific color-coded labels. There is also a clear distinction made for products that contain nuts. But the current system only benefits students with specific dietary restrictions or allergies—it does not provide adequate information for average health-conscious diners who wants to know what is in their food.

While Dining Services’ plan to start including a list of ingredients along with basic nutritional facts is encouraging, it is essential that the plan is implemented expeditiously. Serving diners at an educational institution, Dining Services must provide hungry customers with the resources they need to make healthy dietary choices, and knowledge of the ingredients in one’s food is one such indispensable resource. Moreover, adding more nutritional information could give Columbia Dining Services an edge against neighborhood restaurants and food providers who do not provide customers with nutrition information.

However, for this change to be effective, Dining Services should not just post ingredients and nutrition facts on its Web site but also post them in dining locations next to the food items. Few will have time to check the nutrition information before they arrive at the dining hall, and even if they do, even fewer will be able to recall specific nutritional information of a given product once they are ready to help themselves to food. Posting the information in the dining halls is necessary to make this new initiative effective and to ensure that Dining Services’ plans are not in vain.

Dining Services should provide students with information to eat smart and stay healthy—in a format that is practical for all its customers.