MSU cafeterias switched ground beef distributors and could be serving ground beef again as soon as Friday evening, university officials said.
The move ends a campus-wide ban on all ground beef that has been in effect since Saturday. The ban was initiated at the request of one of the university’s beef suppliers, J&B Meats, which is checking its ground beef for E. coli contamination.
After suspending its contract with J&B Meats, the university is working with Sysco, a food supply company, to have U.S. Department of Agriculture-certified ground beef available at all MSU residence hall cafeterias for dinner on Friday, said Vennie Gore, assistant vice president for housing and food services.
“We are changing distributors,” Gore said. “We got to the point where we needed to make a decision, and we made a decision to do this.”
MSU already serves ground beef from Sysco at a few campus locations, including Snyder-Phillips Hall cafeteria, Kellogg Center and concession stands, said Mike Rice, director of auxiliary services at MSU Food Stores.
“Our primary thing is to get ground beef back to campus,” he said. “We don’t want students to go without what they want.”
Since the ban was placed, the university has destroyed 1,200 pounds of ground beef, costing nearly $2,400, Rice said. MSU will ask J&B Meats to reimburse the lost meat, he said.
The university also is awaiting word from J&B Meats on whether its stored ground beef supply of up to 5,000 pounds is safe, Rice said.
Switching to Sysco’s Angus ground beef could cost the university more, Rice said. The Angus beef costs about 10 percent more than the standard beef from J&B Meats, Rice said.
Having the meat back in cafeterias is a move that will likely please students like no-preference freshman Chris Beuerle.
On Tuesday evening, Beuerle emerged from Synder-Phillips cafeteria unhappy with his dining experience. Chicken burgers had replaced hamburgers, the burrito bar had no ground beef and meatball subs were non-existent.
“When I came to get a cheeseburger with barbecue sauce on it, I was frustrated because there was no beef, it was just straight chicken,” he said. “Beef is a pretty key ingredient in a cafeteria like this, if they’re doing all chicken, that’s baloney.”
Jasmine Newby, who works at the Synder-Phillips cafeteria, said the ground beef ban produced a lot of questions.
“A lot of times, people will come up and ask if we’re serving burgers anymore period, and we have to tell them it’s just temporary because of the E. coli situation,” the arts and humanities freshman said. “A lot of people come here just for a burger, and when we don’t have them, it’s kind of inconvenient.”
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