Campus Dining Today - NACUFS 2023 - 55

Strengthening special
diets programs through
auditing techniques
How to Break Barriers and Build
Bridges with Campus Partners
Elizabeth Adkins, MS, operations support
manager, Central Washington University
Using Audits to Enhance Special
Diets Programs
Lisa Eberhart, RD, LDN, co-founder,
Menu Analytics
Betsy Helgesen, senior director of campus
retail, University of Minnesota-Duluth
Randy Lait, co-founder, Menu Analytics
Heather Ryall, assistant director of
dining operations, Massachusetts Institute
of Technology
Maintaining updated, accurate and available
ingredient information, along with a welltrained
staff, is critical in today's market to keep
all students safe and engaged, but it's a big
challenge, said Lisa Eberhart, RD, LDN, Menu
Analytics co-founder. Referring to her time
as director of nutrition and wellness at North
Carolina State University where she carried out an
audit of their program, Eberhart said audits are
a powerful way to know if special diet/allergen
programs are on track and where they could be
improved-a process that can be done internally
or by a third-party.
Eberhart enlisted dietetic interns to help
wade through vast numbers of recipes in their
system, checking that website and point-of-sale
information was accurate. A method that helped
with reviewing records and labeling allergens was
exporting backend data into spreadsheets, then
scanning for keywords (noting some limitations
of this method, such as butternut squash getting
flagged as a nut allergy).
In addition, " Anyone who complained, I hired, "
she said. She sent any customer who complained
back to the dining facility the following day
to record everything that happened, including
who they talked to and whether the issue was
resolved-a process that satisfied the customer
and the staff. For every complaint, Eberhart said
she would go and retrain the entire staff.
" They got sick of the retrainings, so they started
monitoring each other, " Eberhart said.
It's a good idea to enlist a third-party auditor if
a dining operation lacks on-campus expertise
like a registered dietician, technical expertise,
or capacity to carry out the audit, or just wants
the benefit of fresh eyes, Eberhart said. Betsy
Helgesen, senior director of campus retail,
University of Minnesota-Duluth, a self-operated
school, and Heather Ryall, assistant director
of dining operations, Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, a contracted operation, both
discussed their unique experiences conducting
audits at their respective schools, the challenges
they faced, and how they were able to improve
their operations by auditing their special diets
programs.
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