By Daniel Stoller
The nutritional content of meals served in the dining halls is posted on the Chartwells website, but listings may only be approximations based off of nutrition facts published by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and national restaurant chains.
Chartwells, a food management company, provides the food for Northeastern dining halls. Food distribution is handled by their parent company, the Compass Group. The company’s website hosts menus for more than 100 colleges across the country. The default page when accessing nutritional charts for food offers links to campus recipes, prepared foods by national brands and the nutritional information for foods at chain restaurants, including Shoney’s and Cousins Subs. These items are listed for comparative purposes and are not based on actual ingredients in dining hall food, according to the website.
The section for “Campus Recipes” offers nutrition information for the 211 items served in Northeastern dining halls. But the nutrition facts listed are approximations from the USDA. A disclaimer in fine print at the bottom of the website reads, “The nutritional values found on this web site were provided by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and are for comparative purposes only. The foods offered on campus may not directly reflect the stated values of similar or like items.”
Students, informed of these facts, were generally skeptical of the nutrition information.
Maura Nakamichi, a sophomore international affairs major, ate dining hall food last year. She wondered why nutritional facts are not properly listed.
“What are they hiding?” she said.
Mike Pankowski, a junior industrial engineering major, eats at the dining halls every few weeks. He said he has never wondered about nutrition facts, but worries that those with allergies aren’t able to view ingredients lists online.
“You should have specifics as to what you’re serving,” he said.
Bill Fantasia, director of residential dining and concessions, was not available for an in-person or phone interview and declined to comment on e-mailed questions. Deb Fantasia, marketing manager for Chartwells at Northeastern, however, responded through e-mail.
“[The national brand listings] are available for general informational use. This is a tool that you can use to add to your nutritional journal,” she said in an e-mail. She added that the nutrition facts for off-campus food inform students’ eating decisions.
For on-campus food nutritional information, she said, the disclaimer is outdated, and that she plans to have the disclaimer removed. She did not say whether she planned to update the nutritional information.
Rudy Simchak, resident district manager for Chartwells, also declined to comment on the issue. Responding to allegations that nutritional facts were not representative of the food, he said, “If that is true, then my official comment is, ‘No comment.'” However he added, “Nutritional information on the website is just to make an approximation of what you eat in the dining halls.”
He also said that because most items in the dining hall are not portion controlled, the nutritional value of a dish depends on how much students ask for or serve themselves. Simchak said the school’s main provider of meats, eggs and canned goods is Performance Food Group. That company has drawn criticism lately for its plans to close a factory in Mississippi, leaving 150 workers without jobs, as reported by Conde Naste Porfolio. That same article also stated that PFG believes its profits will be in the range predicted by Wall Street analysts.
Julie Worthington, a freshman international affairs major, went to the Chartwells website once, but was turned away by the large number of entries, she said. Worthington, who said she eats in the dining hall “at least twice a day,” would like more accurate information available on the website.
“I like to know what I eat and how healthful it really is,” she said.
