Illness linked to Royals’ Den?

Jeremy Yoder

Royal’s Den condiments, including ranch dressing, are left out on the counter overnight.

Coincidence or not, multiple reports of a fierce stomach illness last Tuesday night can be traced back to a common source of origin: the Royal's Den.

It wasn't long after junior Erin Price finished her chicken Caesar salad that she said she felt like something wasn't quite right. "It wasn't the first time I left there feeling like the food just didn't sit well," Price said.

Around 10 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 25, Price was afflicted with an unpleasant spell of potential food poisoning which lingered well into Wednesday morning.

"I thought it may have been the flu, but I didn't have any other symptoms," Price said.

Price thought the cause may have been the ranch dressing she poured on her salad. "The dressing wasn't cold when I was eating it. That should have triggered something."

Sophomore Zach Bower also had a similar experience that night. After spreading some ranch dressing on his cheese steak sandwich, he began to feel sick shortly after leaving the Royals Den. Bower was sick five times throughout the evening, thus interfering with work he needed to do before leaving for Thanksgiving break.

Bower said he used the squeeze bottle of ranch dressing to put on his cheese steak. That bottle, along with mayonnaise and other condiments, is often left to sit out on the counter all day.

"It didn't taste that bad when I was eating it," Bower said.

Steak or dressing, the argument does not align with Maplewood Resident Director Rachel Gerber's reason for being miserably sick that same Tuesday night. Gerber also ate dinner in the Royals Den. "All I had was a slice of pizza and a Diet Coke," she said, "but I was so sick that night. The funny thing was, it only lasted for less than 24 hours, so it really could have been food poisoning."

It is impossible to pinpoint the exact cause of a food poisoning incident, if that is what it really was. However, the number of people who ate in the snack shop and were sick the same night is suggestive.

While food-borne illness is most commonly linked with meat and dairy products, which, stored without refrigeration, have a high risk for carrying bacteria. "Ranch dressing shouldn't be left out," Bower and Price both said.

Pioneer Food Service Director John Luc said that the case was being looked into, and he is seeing what could be done.

"The concern is not only for the health of students and faculty who eat at the Royals Den," said Gerber. "But if the Food and Drug Administration were to make a surprise visit at EMU, would the Royals Den be in compliance with sanitation standards? How much food service training goes into the hiring of snack shop employees?"

Along with Price, Bower, and Gerber, many others are left wondering, too, if what they ate on Tuesday night was truly fit to be ingested. "No one should have to go through that," Bower said.