A survey of the most recent health reports at many of the
Associated Students UCLA eateries, such as Shorty’s Subs and
Wetzel’s Pretzels, shows that overall, the eateries are clean
and healthy.
The reports cite no major violations, and some even cite none at
all, though a common violation was leaving cleaning towels on
counters. Yet this report information is not known by many
students.
A few of the on-campus eateries, such as Panda Express, La
Cucina by Sbarro, and Rubio’s Baja Grill have letter grades
posted which visibly inform customers that the establishments are
clean places to eat.
These restaurants are graded by Los Angeles County, as opposed
to the other restaurants without grades that are under the
jurisdiction of ASUCLA and state inspectors. Those without grades,
however, have signs posted indicating that health reports are
available upon request.
The choice whether or not to post health reports is up to
ASUCLA. Associate Director of ASUCLA Food Services Roy Champawat
said out of concern for the results being misinterpreted that full
health reports are available only upon request, instead of having
percentages or grades posted.
“All violations are not equal,” he said. “A
percentage is not necessarily as telling as one might think it may
be.”
Champawat said a review of the full health report gives
customers the opportunity to see exactly which violations are
responsible for the particular ratings of the restaurants.
But a simple request may not bring the health report.
When many employees and supervisors of various eateries were
asked to produce a copy of the most recent health inspection
report, as signs posted in the restaurants indicate is possible,
reports could not be obtained. Confused expressions, long waits,
apologies for not knowing where the reports were located and
requests to come back in a few days to a week were instead
given.
Champawat attributes this to the rarity of the request and
extensive staffs full of student employees who only work short
shifts. These aspects make it difficult to have everyone prepared
for such a rare situation.
Students say apathy, ignorance, and minds preoccupied with other
concerns are behind the shortage of viewing requests.
“Most people don’t seem like they really
care,” said Brian Lawless, a first-year history student.
Other students attribute this behavior to students’ busy
schedules.
Second-year molecular, cell and developmental biology student
Andrés Santa-Cruz feels students have a lot on their minds and
for this reason do not really think about how clean places are.
“As long as they see a famous name, like Wetzel’s
Pretzels, they don’t really think twice about it,” he
said.
Lawless said at times he does think about how clean the
facilities are.
“It just seems that it gets pretty hectic and I just
wonder if the cleanliness factor is a priority as opposed to just
giving you the food,” he said.