Penn Dining announced on May 3 that three additional campus dining facilities have passed their annual health inspections, meaning all residential cafes have now been found in compliance with Philadelphia health codes.
Quaker Kitchen and Falk Dining Cafe both passed their annual inspections. 1920 Commons successfully completed re-inspection after a number of health code violations were discovered earlier this year.
In January, Penn Dining facilities received 100 observations of health code violations after inspection by the Philadelphia Office of Food Protection. Analysis by The Daily Pennsylvanian showed that a majority of Penn’s dining locations had at least five violations.
Commons originally faced 21 points of concern over eight violations, and was one of only two dining facilities on Penn’s campus to be found not in compliance with Philadelphia health codes.
After the data from the Philadelphia Office of Food Protection and the subsequent DP analysis were published, Penn Dining released an action plan, which covered dining hall cleaning methods and plans to correct the violations to ensure that dining facilities were safe for students and staff to dine in. The facility was re-inspected by the city on March 3 and found to still not be in compliance.
A Feb. 25 statement from Penn Dining announced that “a Philadelphia-based food safety and risk minimization services consultant has been engaged to conduct random inspections of all facilities that mirror Health Department standards and required industry protocols.”
Penn has also planned a $65 million renovation of the second and third floors of Commons over the summer, when the building is closed for dining. The renovations, which were scheduled before the failed health inspections, will address the building’s infrastructure.
When the renovation was announced on March 12, Penn Business Services Director of Communications and External Relations Barbara Lea-Kruger wrote to the DP that the work is now also being completed as “part of our comprehensive approach to addressing issues raised in the inspections.”
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