Ground meat at NYU dining halls is safe to eat despite the recent scare caused by a strain of E. coli found in Topps Meat Company's products, director of dining service Owen Moore said.
Topps frozen meat products are primarily used for retail purposes as opposed to food services, Moore said. New York University's primary dining service provider is Aramark Corporation, which uses SYSCO food distributors for the majority of its purchases. Neither Aramark nor SYSCO uses Topps products for their meat.
Topps recalled a total 21.7 million pounds of ground beef last Saturday and last Tuesday after they discovered the contamination, according to CNN.
CAS freshman Nicco Reggente said he trusts NYU's dining halls and will indulge in a beef burger about once a week.
"I know that NYU has strict requirements about heating the meat at a high enough temperature to kill bacteria," he said. "And NYU always claims how clean and healthy their kitchens are with the signs that have been posted around the dining halls."
If an E. coli outbreak were to occur, Moore said the university is prepared to handle the situation.
"In the event of any type of health concerns or food recalls at NYU, we would trace the products and notify all appropriate personnel including customers," he said.
NYU and Aramark would also work together, using a predetermined protocol set up for such an emergency.
"When an alert is issued by the FDA, [Aramark] immediately stops using the recalled product and does not use it again until the FDA proclaims the product as safe and consumer confidence is restored," said George Hellen, Aramark resident district manager for NYU.
GSP freshman Daniel Stern said he is confident in NYU's ability to prevent an outbreak in their dining halls.
"I don't think it's likely that an outbreak of E. coli would happen here because NYU is pretty health conscious," Stern said.
Selena Shen is a contributing writer. E-mail her at news@nyunews.com.
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