Despite what many freshman students may say, Bolton Dining Hall is the cleanest on campus.

Of the four dining halls and four on-campus eateries inspected, Bolton scored a 100, putting it on par with 66 other food establishments in Athens-Clarke County.

Oglethorpe House scored the lowest with an 87 – putting it below Clarke County Correctional and one of the mobile hot dog stands, Top Dawg Concession.

Oglethorpe House, like the Tate Café, had a “proper cold holding temperature” violation.

This means the health inspector found an item in the buffet that was not at the proper serving temperature.

Though deemed a “critical” violation by the Clarke County Health Inspector, the University says the problem is not as bad as it sounds.

“It’s a snapshot,” food training specialist for University Food Services Kris Ingmundson said. “We temp the foods every two hours and have corrective action procedures if food is not at the proper temperature. Unfortunately, we had items out of temperature [when the inspector came.]”

Food Services director Jeanne Fry echoed Ingmundson’s sentiment. Fry explained the inspector takes a temperature at any given time, but that food is not unsafe unless it remains at room temperature for more than four hours.

“We never have food out for that long,” Fry said.

As an internal check, each dining establishment has one worker whose sole job is to check temperatures.

Despite imperfect health scores, the University says the 30,000 meals served daily on-campus are sanitary.

“I tell all my employees, ‘Your No. 1 priority is to keep the food safe,’ because keeping the customer happy is good, but second,” Ingmundson said. “I have no qualms about the safety of our food.”

Each dining hall and extended eatery is publicly inspected twice a year, though the University does internal inspections monthly. For an eatery to stay in business, it must receive a 70 or higher on the state-mandated inspection.

On-campus county health inspector, Beth Maples was unable to be reached for comment on the inspection process.

J. Michael Floyd, vice president of Food Services, said if anything, the University has been on the cutting edge of sanitation.

“The standards we operate on are so much stricter than the average consumer follows at their own home,” Floyd said. “Every once in a while, you are going to burn a piece of toast. Our goal is to do our best everyday.”

He said health scores were displayed in University dining hall lobbies years before law required the practice.

“It could be a piece of equipment malfunctioning that day,” Floyd said about why some scores are lower than desired.

For instance, Oglethorpe House’s “plumbing installed, proper backflow services” violation was noted because one sink’s hot water was not the 100-degree standard.

Similarly, The Summit at East Village Commons had a “proper cooling time and temperature” violation because the refrigerator was not cooling food fast enough. Since that time, Food Services has purchased a blast chiller – a machine that quickly cools food.

“We shouldn’t see that violation there again,” Ingmundson said.

Both The Summit and Snelling lost one point for “physical facilities installed, maintained and clean.”

At The Summit, the culprit was a large crack in the floor that is scheduled to be replaced in May.

Snelling also has floor troubles. Its floor, which was laid in 1939, does not comply with the new health and safety code created in 2007.

Ingmundson said normally when mistakes happen, it is just an accident and workers are retrained.

“We do not hire students off the street and put them in charge of sanitation and cooking,” Ingmundson said. “We have food service professionals who manage our operations and who are in charge of production.”

She said new hires, in addition to being closely monitored, go through a new hire orientation program. Non-students have an extended program, and student workers must make a 90 on a WebCT test.

“We operate safe and sanitary everyday, regardless of inspection,” Fry said. “We put all our energy, effort and resources into making sure what we do is wholesome.”