TOLEDO, Ohio — "Believe in what you eat."
That's what it says on the wall of the University of Toledo's student union dining hall.
But David Meyer, a worried parent of a University of Toledo student, said you should think twice.
Concerned about the recent reports of health code violations at his daughter's school, Meyer reached out directly to the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department and spoke by phone with the health inspector, convincing her to follow up with the eatery after multiple reports of critical health code violations in recent months, including reports of cockroaches.
"I called yesterday, got that report, lo and behold, still the critical violations, still repeat non-critical violations, and nothing has been done," Meyer said.
The health department's April 11 report reveals the issues with cockroaches continue, with four live roaches spotted by the inspector during her last visit. This marks the fourth time the dining hall has received critical violations from the health department since October of last year.
This also follows the University of Toledo's recent statement to WTOL 11, saying that the pest issues had been resolved. Their deputy director of communications, Christine Billau, wrote to WTOL 11 on April 7, four days before the health department's latest inspection: "We were able to confirm that there were no concerns in our food production or food serving areas. The actions directed by the Health Department allowed for us to quickly resolve the issue in the other areas of the operation."
In the latest report, the health inspector wrote that if the pest issue isn't addressed soon, the department would be required to take further action.
Meyer, the UT parent, said that should have happened months ago.
"If that means shutting down the student union dining hall, immediately, correcting all of these violations, get it fixed, once and for all," Meyer said.
WTOL 11 spoke to students inside the dining hall Thursday to get their take. Junior Liam Soules says he and his fellow students pay too much for this to go unaddressed.
"Obviously assess the problem and fix it. And not lie to people like you [WTOL 11] about it and then lie to their students about it, who are paying $15,000 to go here," Soules said.
Meyer said that the blame for these critical violations now falls not only on the University of Toledo, but also the health department. If this was any other business, it would have been shut down months ago, he said.
"If this had been A, B, C restaurant, I guarantee you on the February re-inspection they would have had a revocation of their licenses or a forced suspension at the very least. All of these violations need to be corrected and in order to provide a safe and healthy environment for students, staff and faculty," Meyer said.
Meanwhile, University of Toledo students have started a Change.org petition demanding more transparency from the school. On the page, which currently has more 500 signatures, the students write, "the confidence, dependability, and credibility we have in the University of Toledo is on a rapid decline due to the student needs not being fulfilled."
Following up on these new developments, the University of Toledo sent a statement to WTOL 11: "We hear our students and share their frustration that repeated treatments have not completely resolved the issues. The health and safety of our UToledo community is our top priority. As we continue to work with the Health Department to resolve the identified issues, we can confirm that there are no concerns in our food production or food serving areas."
The Toledo-Lucas County Health Department also provided a statement to WTOL 11, from Director of Health Promotion Shannon Lands.
"We are going through our procedural processes in place and will continue to work closely with the University of Toledo to remedy the identified issues and concerns," wrote Lands.
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