The Dining Hall stopped serving double portions of meat last September in stations such as Mill City Grill and the Deli. It was discovered that students were not informing cashiers that they had double portions on their plate. This resulted in students only paying for single portions of meat which lost the Dining Hall money.
According to Dan VanAvery, the general manager of the Dining Hall, “An honor system of telling [the cashiers about double portions] doesn’t actually work. We’ve tried that. One out of three or out of four [students] might tell us, ‘Hey, this is a double portion.’”
The honor system may not have worked because people either forget or do not want to pay the extra fee, so they did not tell their cashier. It became an “abused privilege”, said VanAvery.
Because of this abused privilege, the Dining Center and Sodexo lost money since they did not receive the extra money from the unnoticed double meat portions. If a student does not tell their cashier about their double portion, then the cashier will price it as a single portion of meat.
The double portions are also harmful to a student’s health. A double meat portion is twelve to sixteen ounces of meat instead of the usual six to eight ounces. Sixteen ounces is one pound of meat.
According to the article published by Everyday Health, “Getting Portion Sizes Back Under Control” written by Kristen Stewart, the United States Department of Agriculture recommends that adults eat five and a half ounces of lean meat per day to stay within the daily 2,000 calorie recommendation. Anything more could prove to be detrimental to a student’s health if they continue to eat that much long-term.
The double meat portions are a thing of the past and will continue as such as long there are students who misuse the double meat portion honor code. However, this privilege being taken away may help students make healthier choices while eating at the Dining Hall.
