To all the Pitt students out there,
Stay clear of Market Central this Halloween as it should officially be dubbed the Dining Hall of Doom. Something spooky is traveling around campus, and it is not your midterm grades or any costume that you might’ve brought back from home. The spookiest thing I have seen this season is the FAILED health inspection report that Market Central received. As a Sophomore at the University of Pittsburgh, I have had a fair share of meals at the most-visited dining hall on campus. Meals that I now sort of regret. If you wanna give yourself a good scare this October, view the full report from the Allegheny health department here *at your own risk*.
The inspection includes reports not only about the personal hygiene of the employees at Market Central but also about the inadequate food preservation system that Market utilizes. Some of my favorite and the most glaring atrocities that the University dining hall has committed include (but are not limited to) a worker being spotted wiping his nose on his bare hands, then handling clean dishes and the horrendous and risky event of meat germs from the chicken dripping onto the fries.
One particular violation that has personally affected me is that Market to-Go does not transport their sushi using adequate temperature precautions. Let me make it clear, that is RAW fish that is not being held at a cold enough temperature to keep it from going bad. Last year, I got sushi from the dining hall, excited to indulge in it after a long day. Just a short time after eating it, I started to not feel well. Long story short, I was sick until I completely rid my body of all the toxic fish that I had ingested earlier that day; an unfortunate event that could have easily been prevented if the correct precautions were taken by the people handling the sushi.
The experience and facts that I have shared only scratch the surface of the horrifying atrocities that exist in one of only two dining halls on campus that has since been shut down (keep in mind, Pitt has close to 20,000 undergraduate students). I am not sharing this disgusting health report to shame Market Central and the University of Pittsburgh. These health reports need to be taken seriously and actions need to be taken so that a failed report does not come back again. I encourage you to share the health report link with all your friends and family so they, too, can be aware of the horror that is taking over Pitt this Halloween and so that something is more likely to be done to better the conditions of our dining halls.
And to Pitt,
Your students pay thousands of dollars to go to school here and expect to at least have sanitary food, especially because all undergraduate freshman are required to have meal plans. We are not asking for good food, all we’re asking for is edible food. We should not have to walk into the dining hall in fear of getting sick because Market Central and its workers are not taking proper precautions to create a safe environment for food to be prepared and made. After all, with all the schoolwork we students have, we simply cannot afford to get sick! There are actual consequences to the contamination, uncleanliness, and improper food preservation techniques that are reported in the health report. I implore the university to take action before these health violations affect even more of Pitt’s student population, as they have done to me and to many other people.
This spooky season, let our costumes and barely-passing grades be the only scary surprise. Market Central, step up your game because not even a witch would eat at that dining hall of doom.