Advocating for inclusive, safe dining for college students with food restrictions
GFF College Dining Survey Responses
Pennsylvania State University
University Park
Pennsylvania
Survey Date:
Aug 14, 2023
Survey 1 of 3
Student:
Senior
With:
Egg Allergy, Milk Allergy, Peanut Allergy
Student's Summary Assessment:
College Dining:
A
Surrounding Area:
D
Rationale for Grades Given
Penn State’s dietitians are fabulous and work with each student to devise a plan to eat on campus with food allergies. They had me meet with the head chef and manager at the dining hall closest to my dorm, and all full time staff are allergy trained. The menu can be filtered to eliminate allergens, and all the ingredients are posted online. In 3 years I’ve only had one bad experience where a mistake was made and an item containing dairy was added to my plate (thankfully caught before I ingested anything - no reaction occurred) and the dietitians immediately stepped in to mandate remedial training. Overall, my experience has been highly positive, even if the menu can be a little limited and repetitive when you eliminate certain allergens.
There are a lot of restaurants in State College, but none that are great for allergy dining. That being said, I’m generally pretty hesitant to dine out at all, especially at busy places like downtown restaurants most often are, so others may feel more comfortable than me! There are lots of grocery stores that carry allergy safe foods, which is awesome!