The Jan. 23 inspection of John Jay Dining Hall carried out by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene resulted in 32 negative points—a score that seems disturbingly high when compared with a city average of 14. In context, many of the violations appear to be more reflective of highly stringent city policies than of negligence on the part of Columbia Dining Services. But because first-year students are required to have meal plans—and therefore are expected to eat in John Jay—it is imperative that Dining Services be extraordinarily scrupulous about its standards in that cafeteria and take the utmost care to avoid future violations.

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene inspects all restaurants in the city each year—John Jay itself is checked about four times annually—to ensure that they are adhering to safe standards. The inspection process is grueling, with a checklist of approximately 100 items. These can be divided into three broad categories: the physical plant, storage, and food safety. While all three categories are without doubt very important, the University is most concerned with safety. Nearly all the offenses for which John Jay was cited are plant-related—a few cracks in a waterproof floor covering, for example, and the absence of one of two caps that hold a shatterproof cover onto the light fixture of one light.

Indeed, a number of the citations seem almost arbitrary. John Jay was cited for not having a backflow preventer in its sinks, despite its having preventers in all the beverage machines instead. That this arrangement was never considered a violation in the past suggests that recent inspections may have been stricter than those in the past. The most worrisome element of the report was “evidence of mice,” but that was found in a pipe behind the building, and it is hard to determine how old the evidence is. Also disturbing was a report item that equipment in contact with food may not have been properly sanitized after each use. Yet Dining Services has in place a thorough system of daily, weekly, and annual self-checks to ensure that such oversights do not occur. Joseph Heavey, the executive director of dining services, asserts that all problems found in the report have since been corrected.

While it may be true that the city is becoming increasingly stringent in its inspections, John Jay should maintain levels of safety and quality high enough to avoid even minor infractions. John Jay figures into the daily lives of many Columbia students, and it plays a central role in fostering community among first-years. Even if John Jay Dining Hall is in better shape than January’s report indicates, the mere perception of unhealthy conditions will lead students to avoid eating there. Aside from the report, dirty dishes and glasses have given many students just such an impression. Because John Jay meals are prepurchased and intended to be the primary source of food for first-years, it is all the more incumbent upon Dining Services to abide by city health standards—both to protect students’ safety and to retain their confidence.