Bruin Tea: Why are Bruin Plate’s dishes always dirty?
(Daily Bruin file photo)
By Melissa Morris
Feb. 8, 2019 12:07 a.m.
Quarter system got you down? Have you fallen and can’t get up? Bruin Tea is a series investigating student questions and petty concerns about UCLA.
Complaint: Why are the cups at Bruin Plate always dirty? No other dining hall has that problem.
Students said they have noticed dirty dishware at the Bruin Plate residential dining hall.
UCLA Dining Services associate director Charles Wilcots, general manager Guadalupe Morales and executive steward Joshua Witt said in a statement they are aware of the concern and working to address it.
All residential dining halls use the same dishwashing system and procedure, according to the statement. The cleanliness of dishes may vary across dining halls due to differences in the types of food served and the number of plates used per meal period.
Bruin Plate uses more dishes per meal period than any other dining hall. Within a single dinner meal period, guests use about 20,000 plates, bowls, mugs, glasses and silverware, according to the statement.
All dishware is scraped, washed and rinsed with industry standard dishwashing chemicals and an industry standard flight-type dish machine.
Bruin Plate has one industry standard flight-type dish machine.
“We are continually reviewing our procedures to find more effective and efficient methods to wash massive amounts of dishware, including the possibility of adding a second dishwasher machine,” the statement said.
UCLA Dining Services also discovered its water softener is in need of repair, and is working to correct the issue.
Following customer feedback, UCLA Dining Services updated its cleaning procedures to reduce the number of dirty dishware. Soiled dishes are now separated and run through the machine again. Other soiled dishes are soaked overnight and hand scrubbed the next day.
“Our managers and supervisors inspect the dish room area throughout the day and ensure that team members are following the proper dishwashing procedures as well,” the statement added.
Moving forward, Dining Services is also evaluating its food waste program to reduce the amount of dishes entering dish rooms.
They are working to prevent food waste by allowing students to better customize their meals to include food they will actually eat.
Dining Services takes student feedback seriously, and invites students to relay any concerns to dining hall managers, according to the statement.
TL;DR: There are a lot of dishes at Bruin Plate and only one dishwashing machine.
