Several students found Caterpillars crawling in the steamed broccoli served in the Black Hills State University (BHSU) campus cafeteria on Monday, Sept. 23. The broccoli was promptly removed from the menu, while lunch service continued.
The incident sparked concern among students on campus. Sodexo, the company that provides food services for BHSU was among those blamed for the situation.
At first glance, students mistook the insects for maggots in broccoli. The discovery led students to immediately report the situation to dining staff.
“My guess is honestly [the insects] are probably not harmful, they’re just a little bit disgusting,” said Dave Bergmann, an assistant professor in the college of Business and Natural Sciences at BHSU.
The insects had worm-like shape, similar to maggots, with a dark head, white body and six legs.
“It’s probably a lepidoptera, as you say a caterpillar in all likely hood.” Bergmann said.
Insects in the food at BH is not a common occurrence. Since 2020, the cafeteria has passed its public health inspections with only minor violations.
“It might be if the larvae are really small, or if you have maybe the eggs of the larvae in the food, it might have passed unnoticed,” Bergmann said.
The larvae getting through inspection and onto the plates of BHSU students raised concerns of how food is handled and checked when arriving at the BHSU campus.
“Sodexo has contracts with different food providers, whether it’s Sysco or whoever the restaurants have, they order their food through these different food providers.” Said Jane Klug, Dean of Students at BHSU.
The food then gets delivered from trucks and then is inspected by the dining staff at BHSU.
“When they unload the food, Ron and his staff, usually Nicole Keller who is our main chef in charge of the kitchen, her staff are meeting those trucks,” Klug said. “Somebody did come to me about the complaint, and I directed them to Ron, and then at the same time Ron responded to that student and then came to talk to me directly and he did tell me that he and Nicole did go through the broccoli, and they found some of those things.”
BHSU students who wish to live on campus are required to purchase a meal plan along with housing.
“I don’t think we should be forced to buy a meal plan,” Said freshmen student Wyatt Mansfield, “They should definitely refund the meal swipes.”
“There’s no way for us to go, man everyone that complained, no meal plans for you!” Said Klug.
The whole batch of broccoli was thrown away as soon as Sodexo was made aware of the issue. However, questions of who is responsible for the outbreak of insects in the produce, remain.
“So, if there was a person [we had to blame], I guess we would have to say Ron Showman,” Klug said.
Showman was asked for comment but had to decline due to needing authorization from Sodexo public relations.
“…[W]hat I would say is that Ron and his staff are probably coming up with some better solutions, but then it’ll my job will be to communicate that to students,” Klug said.
Showman and Sodexo remain in charge of the food in the cafeteria as well as the other food vendors on campus.
