USC officials say they\u2019ve revamped food-inspection protocols after students shared videos and images online of bugs and mold in on-campus dining hall meals over three months.<\/p>\n
From September through November, four students documented their run-ins with a live maggot, a stink bug, a worm-like creature and a fly crawling around on their plates from Everybody\u2019s Kitchen and the USC Village dining hall, according to student news organization USC Annenberg Media,<\/a> which first reported on the contamination Tuesday. <\/p>\n One of the videos also showed mold on slices of bread. <\/p>\n A majority of the meals shown in the images and videos included some type of produce, such as lettuce or broccoli. <\/p>\n In a statement to The Times, Dirk De Jong, assistant vice president of USC hospitality, said the university has a \u201cstrong record of safely delivering 30-40,000 meals per day on our campuses\u201d and consistently earns \u201cA\u201d grades from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, \u201cwhich conducts regular, unannounced inspections.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFor these reasons, we were greatly surprised to hear of these reports, which we are closely examining to verify and improve,\u201d De Jong said. <\/p>\n Since the reported incidents, De Jong said campus dining facilities have begun instituting new inspection protocols \u2014 though he did not elaborate. <\/p>\n He did tell Annenberg Media, however, that USC has \u201ca refined process now to ensure all produce is repeatedly washed and rinsed.\u201d<\/p>\n The Times reached out to the USC Undergraduate Student Government for comment but did not immediately receive a response Thursday. <\/p>\n The L.A. County Public Health Department inspects eateries within the county, including the two on-campus dining establishments. <\/p>\n