On-site food firms defend operations in Chicago schools after safety expose

Nation's Restaurant News, Jan 14, 2002 by Paul King

CHICAGO -- Sodexho and Chartwells, the two foodservice management firms under contract to provide some 400,000 meals a day at most of this city's public schools, defended their operations after an investigative series in the Chicago Tribune questioned food safety in the schools' cafeterias.

Officials of the two contract foodservice firms told the Tribune that they follow proper procedures on safety and sanitation and denied knowingly serving food prepared by companies that practice unsafe food-handling procedures. Sodexho and Chartwells added that they would take whatever steps they can to improve food safety even further.

"We are concerned about the issues raised by the [Tribune] article," said Jeannette Jurkiewicz, spokeswoman for the School Services division of Sodexho, which is based in Gaithersburg, Md. "Our top priority is to make sure that the kids we serve receive nutritious, healthful meals in a safe environment."

Officials for Compass Group North America, the Charlotte, N.C., parent of Chartwells, did not make an official statement concerning the Tribune articles. However, one company source indicated that Chartwells has been one of Chicago schools' foodservice providers only since 2000, while the incidents mentioned in the Tribune series occurred before 2000.

Chartwells and Sodexho are the Chicago's school system's principal foodservice providers, together serving more than 400,000 meals a day. The third company is Preferred Meals, a local outfit that sells prepared food to the school system in trays that are reheated on site.

The Chicago Board of Education decided four years ago to outsource the management of the cafeteria program in order to save money.

The district chose to split the contract -- worth about $80 million annually -- among three companies in the hope of making foodservice more competitive and accountable.

However, the companies are hampered by the fact that although they manage the foodservice program in their assigned schools, hourly foodservice workers are hired and paid by the school district. When an employee is suspected of not following proper food-handling procedures, the foodservice manager must work with his or her school's principal to deal with the problem.

The Tribune's two articles, which ran last month, were prompted by reports of food-borne illnesses in at least eight states across the country allegedly caused by burritos prepared at a plant in Chicago's South Side. The first of the two articles dealt with an investigation of RHSCO Enterprises Inc. and Munoz Flour Tortilleria, the food manufacturers responsible for preparing the burritos.

The burritos also were implicated in suspected food-borne illnesses at schools in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Florida, Indiana, North Dakota, Kansas, Iowa and Missouri.

In its report the Tribune said the school district's efforts to ensure food safety are hampered by rules that permit food management firms to withhold the names of their suppliers unless they are owned by women or minorities.

The second article focused specifically on Chicago schools, detailing rodent and insect infestation, dirty kitchens and unsafe food-handling practices.

The day the second article was published, Schools Superintendent Arne Duncan introduced several steps to improve the quality of foodservice in the school system. Duncan said the district would schedule more inspections of school kitchens and cafeterias, provide better training for staff and make a detailed review of the district's foodservice contracts.

He defended the school district's food safety policies but noted that "they have to be followed 100 percent of the time." However, he added that "the reality is that we serve 70 million meals a year, and I think the findings have to be reviewed in that context."

According to the Tribune, at least 41 cases of possible food poisoning have occurred in Chicago schools, with at least 215 students being affected. Only 16 of those incidents were documented by the school district, while another 16 were found in reports kept by the city's Health Department.

Susan Susanke, foodservice director for the Chicago schools, did not respond to requests for comment. However, in the Tribune articles, school officials were quoted as saying that most reports of stomach-related illnesses have been found to be caused by viruses, such as the flu, or attempts by children to avoid school.

"I don't think it has anything to do with the flu," Susanke told the Tribune.

Dr. John L. Wilhelm, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, also told the Tribune that he doubted claims that food-borne bacteria were the cause of many of the illness reports.