Fall 2023 Campus Dining Today - 26

PREPARING ALLERGYFREE
FOODS AT A
CENTRAL FACILITY
Isa Thomas
marketing & design intern,
Ohio University Culinary Services
Ohio University (OHIO) Culinary Services is known for
many things, self-sufficiency being chief among them.
But while many people can eat everything that comes
their way without worry, there are many others who
must put more thought into it. For them, finding food
is often a stressful undertaking.
OHIO Culinary Services wants to diminish the fear
many with dietary restrictions experience for their
students, faculty, and guests. They do this through
strict safety measures in the venues that supply their
allergen-free food and throughout every aspect of their
production process.
This begins at OHIO's Central Food Facility (CFF), their
on-campus production facility that serves as the origin
point for most of OHIO's food. It is separated into four
different sections: central service kitchen, vegetable
preparation, retail, and bakery. Vegetable prep is free
of major allergens, and as the kitchens are isolated, the
veggies are distributed without contact with any of the
major allergens.
In addition to these four kitchens is the gluten-free
kitchen, which is kept sealed and separate from all
other kitchens in the building. It operates primarily as a
bakery. The ingredients necessary to create gluten-free
foods, such as gluten-free flour, are all taken directly
into the gluten-free kitchen at CFF once they arrive at
the facility. The ingredients never leave the kitchen, nor
do they interact with ingredients from other kitchens
in the building, drastically limiting the possibility of
cross-contamination.
The cook in the gluten-free kitchen does not even
walk into other kitchens within the facility: when they
work, they go directly down a hallway that leads to
the gluten-free kitchen. This is true for anyone who
enters. Baked goods are created carefully by specially
trained staff without the presence of other common
allergens (such as tree nuts) in the room and packaged
individually in that kitchen before they are sent off to
our other venues.
26
CAMPUS DINING TODAY | ADDRESSING ALLERGENS AND SPECIAL DIETS
Fall 2023 Campus Dining Today

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