St. Thomas Dining Services hired a registered dietitian to help The View update its allergen and special diet program and provide nutritional information for the food offered.

Dietitian Andrea Cossetta was hired for these two tasks, but for now she is focusing on avoiding cross-contamination. All student managers and staff at The View are already trained in a cross-contamination course, but Cossetta wants to ensure the food is untainted, especially for diners with serious allergies.

“Food allergies should be taken very seriously. Right now there’s a lot of fads going out there,” Cossetta said. “For instance, the gluten-free diet is a huge thing right now, and there’s a lot of people on it for the fad reason. Then those people that have gluten intolerance or celiac disease are often overshadowed.”

Students currently must fill out a survey on the Dining Services website to request a special diet if they have nutritional concerns. Cossetta then helps them make a plan with their preferred cafeteria. This system will continue to ensure food purity.

Cossetta’s duties in the allergen project include observing preparation stations in The View and giving suggestions to avoid cross-contamination. She will use this information to educate students, workers and staff more thoroughly.

“A lot of them are taking pretty good steps,” Cossetta said. “The biggest challenge right now is to educate. Food service anywhere has a lot of turnover, and the department in The View is huge. There’s over 160 students, so more of the concern is making sure that the students are being educated.”

The nutritional information project will follow St. Thomas’ allergen update.

Sophomore Melanie Brothers is gluten-sensitive and said she would appreciate ingredient lists on certain foods at The View to keep her from having to guess.

“That would be really great if they showed ingredients, too. Then you could just look really quickly and see if it contained gluten or not,” she said.

Cossetta said the number of students with serious food allergies is expected to increase in coming years.

“There’s a lot more students to be expected with allergies in the next few years; that’s a fact, and so it’s definitely a need to provide this service,” Cossetta said. “We are here to accommodate as much as possible and create a really positive experience for students.”

Elena Neuzil can be reached at neuz3833@stthomas.edu.