Safety is always on the menu for her team

It's a week before Seasons Marketplace will reopen for the spring semester and Tori Tafoya steps inside a walk-in cooler to find the shelves nearly bare -- an unusual sight given the thousands of meals the residential dining center serves every day. But on this particular day Tafoya explains it's exactly what she expects to find.  

As a quality assurance specialist for ISU Dining, Tafoya oversees the master sanitation schedule for the 24 cafes, markets and dining centers on campus as well as dining's bakery and warehouse. The schedule includes tasks for daily, weekly and monthly cleaning. Winter break is dedicated to deep cleaning walk-in coolers and all other areas of the commercial kitchen.  

As detailed as it is, the master sanitation schedule is just one of 80 safety protocols and operating procedures managed by the food safety and quality assurance team, which includes quality assurance specialist Alexias Townsend. Those protocols cover everything from personal protective equipment to emergency interruptions (like a derecho), facility maintenance to food preparation.  

Recognizing the importance of food safety and the size of its operation, ISU Dining leaders created the team in 2018 to ensure dining facilities meet the highest standards for safety and quality. In addition to developing and updating protocols, Tafoya and Townsend train all dining staff, respond to customer concerns and ensure compliance by conducting informal audits monthly and formal audits, similar to a state health inspection, twice a year. State health inspectors and campus partner, environmental health and safety, visit ISU dining facilities annually. ISU Dining also works with ISU risk management and the city of Ames.

"We are always looking to improve," Tafoya said. "When people have a bad experience, they don't feel safe. We make every effort to make sure their safety needs are met."  

For Tafoya, that includes the safety needs of ISU Dining guests -- students, employees, parents and other visitors -- and the more than 215 full-time and 1,400 student dining employees.  

Safety at every step

Many of us probably grab a cup of coffee or lunch at the Hub without thinking about the effort that goes into assuring its quality and safe delivery. Tafoya thinks about it daily.  

"From beginning to end, food safety starts even before the food is procured. We need to ensure we're only working with approved, reputable suppliers to get the highest quality food," Tafoya said. "It starts there and doesn't end until we go through the entire process: receiving the food, prepping, holding, storing, cooking and cooling the food."  

For context, the four residential dining facilities -- Seasons and Union Drive Marketplaces, Friley Windows and Conversations -- served more than 1.1 million meals during fall semester. Some of the top food purchases during that same time period? More than 23,000 pounds of chicken wings and 33,750 pounds of crinkle cut fries.  

ISU Dining's emphasis on safety starts with a robust onboarding process for new employees, which includes ServSafe certification, and ongoing training. It's never a one-and-done, Tafoya said.  

ISU Dining director Karen Rodekamp said that onboarding process "is probably one of the best at the university."

"It's so valuable for new staff to have that knowledge and to walk in equipped," she said. "It also takes that responsibility off management so they can focus on other needs in our dining facilities."

Logs that create connections

Documentation is a critical part of assuring food is safe. There are log sheets on the walls outside walk-in coolers for employees to record temperatures three times a day. There are three-ring binders at individual food stations where employees log food temperatures every two hours and record when daily cleaning tasks are completed.  

As part of her routine audits, Tafoya reviews those logs, as well as logs related to storing cleaning chemicals, calibrating thermometers every month and more. Following every audit, she provides feedback to dining managers on what they're doing well and plans for corrective action, if needed.  

But the audits are more than a compliance checklist. The visits provide an opportunity for dining staff to connect with the food safety and quality assurance team. Rodekamp said it keeps communication open.

"It gives staff a voice to share concerns or address workplace needs," Rodekamp said. "We then address those concerns and share that information with staff so that it comes full circle."

Team effort

Prior to leading the food safety and quality assurance team, Tafoya was manager at Friley Windows. The experience helped her understand the complexities of residential dining, and it shaped how she approaches her current role with its focus on relationships.

"You have to build relationships with people. You have to understand where they're coming from, their abilities and where they need additional help or support," she said. "The only way you're going to be successful is to build a desire in employees to work in a safe manner. Our staff care about the students and the people they're working with, and they genuinely want to do a good job."

Tafoya said her work wouldn't be nearly as effective without the commitment from ISU Dining leaders to foster a culture that's centered on the safety and well-being of employees, which translates to the safety of the food and facility.  

"When people are doing well, when their needs are being met and they feel like they're being listened to, then they can come to work and do a great job. I see that reflected every day," Tafoya said.  

Even when she's not conducting audits, Tafoya spends much of her time in the dining facilities observing operations and building relationships with the staff. The goal is for employees to feel comfortable sharing concerns and knowing they will be heard. Tafoya recognizes that the most well-written policies can't guarantee food safety. It must be a team effort.  

"Nobody works independently in dining. Everybody is a team, and it takes the whole team to do what we do in dining," she said.