FAQ's for Students with Food Allergies or Special Diets

Contact Beth Rosenberger, RDN, to discuss your needs and develop a plan to provide you with as many options as possible. She can be reached at 603-646-1740 or Elizabeth.A.Rosenberger@Dartmouth.EDU.

Yes! Dartmouth Dining staff is trained to identify problems associated with food allergies and preventing cross contact during preparation and service of all the meals we serve. We are diligent about following recipes and labeling each, and every dish is served with the appropriate food classifications and allergens. We label for the top 9 most common allergens as well as pork and coconut.

Menus and nutritional factors for today's menu are at: menu.dartmouth.edu/ 

All management team members complete AllerTrain U, while the vast majority of our hourly-paid staff complete AllerTrain Lite. Both of these certificate programs are ANSI certified. In addition, nearly all of our full-time staff are ServeSAFE certified from the National Restaurant Association.

Members of our management team are trained to recognize an allergic reaction and signs of anaphylaxis, and are certified in the administration of CPR and epinephrine.

Ongoing review of all allergy training materials and practices are conducted with staff on a regular basis. 

From the intial order to our approved vendor to your plate, our purchasing manager, storeroom staff, chefs, servers and front-of-the-house staff read labels and packaging, double-check recipes, and review menu boards and identification cards to make sure that what we serve is accurate and correctly labeled. 

Disclaimer notice:  Dartmouth Dining uses ingredients that might contain dairy, soy, tree nuts, peanuts, eggs, fish, shellfish, wheat, gluten, sesame or coconut. On occasion, manufacturers change product formulation without notifying Dartmouth Dining or our suppliers, and cross-contact is possible. Students need to be aware of the risks and take responsibility for asking the manager on duty or chef if they have questions or concerns. We are happy to show you labels and recipes and allow you to tour our kitchens and storage spaces. 

Universal epi-pens are available at all dining venues. Our management team is trained to recognize an allergic reaction and signs of anaphylaxis, and to administrater epi-pens.

Students who alert a staff member of an allergic reaction or have another type of emergency are encouraged to stay in the facility. Calls will be placed immediately to 911 and College Safety & Security, while a staff member remains with the student in distress.

Review daily menu offerings; become familiar with different allergen tags and food classifications.

In dining venues where food is prepared specifically at your request, ask cooks and servers to change their gloves before starting your order, have the staff clean and sanitize surfaces and utensils before starting your order, and request items from backup containers. They are happy to assist you and have been trained to do this.

Always keep your epi-pen or medication on you and dine with a friend who knows about your allergies and how to administer an epi-pen. Dining does have universal epi-pens in all of our dining locations in case of emergency.

It's best to personally meet with Beth Rosenberger, our registered dietitian nutritionist, and/or other members of the dining administration. Feel free, however, to speak with any staff member in any of our dining locations. We're happy to show you recipes and food storage or prep areas, and you're welcome to look at the labels of any product we serve.

You are encouraged to self-identify and to ask questions. 

Cross-contact occurs when an allergen is accidentally transferred from an allergen-containing food to a non-allergen-containing food.

Dining staff complete allergy training that specifically covers cross-contact and preventative techniques. We cannot ensure no cross-contact in buffet-style settings due to students serving themselves. If any customer feels that there has been any cross-contact please ask an employee to get food separate from what is on the line. 

We encourage you to inform the server at the A9 station, or any of the dining facilities of your allergens so that we can help assess the risk of possible cross-contact with your meal. You are encouraged to ask for a portion of food to be served to you directly.

Avoid fried foods even though they may be free of your allergen since many different types of foods are prepared in these fryers, and cross-contact may happen.