Food and Beverages Safe Sale Guidelines

All University Departments and student clubs and organizations may from time to time want to serve or sell food on the Campus of the Wilkes University. The following guidelines will help to keep you and your guests safe; allow the University to observe local and state regulations on safe food handling; and uphold contractual agreements between the University and approved vendors.

Guidelines

The sale or serving of food and beverages of any kind at functions, fundraisers or programs by anyone other than the authorized, exclusive University vendors, Aramark Corp., Superior Vending, Pepsi Bottling Company and/or vendors associated other University Contracts, is only permitted with written approval from the University's Director of Business Operations or designee unless noted below as an exception.

Grilling is never an exception and must be approved by Student Development in and around University buildings with exception of Housing and Athletic Facilities. The Office of Residential Life and Housing must approve all grilling in and around Housing areas. The Athletic Director working with the Executive Director of Facilities Management must approve all grilling at all Athletic Facilities. In addition, grilling is not permitted near a building intake and is specifically prohibited during scheduled events that are not associated with the requested event. All grilling must follow the food handling and food safety guidelines described herein.

Exceptions

Food sales or serving of food by University departments and registered student organizations is permitted so long as products:

1. Have been prepared by the University food service provider, Aramark Corporation. The Office of Dining Services can assist you with ordering and menu selection; OR
2. Are commercially prepared, used for meetings or university programming; OR
3. Are not used for any catered function. All events on campus requesting catering must use Aramark Corporation or University contracted service OR
4. Are pre-packaged for resale; OR
5. Are not required to be temperature controlled (See Addendum 2: Food Safety Guidelines for Serving Hot and Cold Foods) OR
6. Are part of a Potluck: Potlucks are gatherings where food prepared at home is provided for small groups of faculty, staff or students on University property. Potlucks are permitted as long as groups do not charge admittance, ask for donations or charge for food at these events. The potluck cannot be advertised to the public. For your safety, the Safety Guidelines for Serving Hot and Cold Foods must be followed when hosting potlucks.

All food sales or serving of food must include a table tent with the following messages:

• "These food items may contain nut products or other allergens.”
• “Ingredients: Etc...”

Clean-Up/Storage/Return

Please contact the appropriate conference services scheduler for established policies regarding clean-up/ storage/return of any unused food items or related materials. 

Examples

The following are examples are approved and unapproved food sale or serving list items.

Approved Food Sale or Serving List Examples

Not Approved Foods Examples

• All food sales or serving of food must include a table tent with the following message:
  • "These food items may contain nut products or other allergens."
• For Homemade items, a sign must be present with the following message:
  • “Homemade/Not Inspected”
• All items for bake/confectionery sales must be wrapped in individual portions before being brought to campus. Food must be wrapped in any substance that will permit the food to be seen by the buyer and keep the food free of contamination. A list of ingredients used to prepare the bake sale item must be put on the outside wrapping of the food item, with the name of who prepared it and the date it was prepared.
• All Food Sales not on University Property must follow the mandated Health and Food Handling Policies required by that location.

For information regarding purchasing food, contact University Purchasing.

For further information regarding the safe sale or serving of food and beverages, please contact the Director of Auxiliary Services.

Safety Guidelines for Serving Hot and Cold Foods

The following food safety information will help prevent a food-borne illness when serving hot/cold foods:

Keep Hot Foods Hot!

• Hot foods need to be kept at 140℉ or higher. Hot foods should be brought to a potluck event in a crock pot or other heated food container with the food temperature already at 140℉ or higher. The heated container should be plugged in immediately (or the flame heater lit) to maintain a temperature of at least 140℉. Any hot foods brought in non-heated containers need to be placed in a heated oven to maintain a food temperature of 140℉ or higher.
• A food thermometer (metal stem) should be used to check the temperature of hot foods when they arrive, and every 30 minutes during holding and at the time of cooking if grilling has been approved to take place.
• Make sure that the hamburger or ground beef in any dishes has been thoroughly cooked - there should not be any visible pink color. If grilling has been approved, ground beef patties need to be heated to an internal temperature of 155℉ for 15 seconds to deactivate any pathogenic bacteria (such as E. coli).
• Hot foods that have cooled to room temperature should not be reheated. Throw them away. (Food-borne illness organisms grow best at warm temperatures)!

...and Cold Foods Cold!

• Readily perishable cold foods (such as pasta salads, cold cut meats and potato salads) need to be kept at a temperature of 40℉ or below. It is best to keep cold foods in a refrigerator until just ready to serve. If you do not have access to a refrigerator or there is not enough room in the refrigerator, use an insulated cooler and pour ice on top of sealed food containers.
• Two hours is the maximum time food should be left un-refrigerated.
• A food thermometer (metal stem) should be used to check the temperature of cold foods when they arrive and every 30 minutes to see if the refrigerator or insulated cooler is keeping foods properly chilled.

Food Handling & Protection

• Everyone needs to thoroughly wash his or her hands before working with foods.
• Keep beverage ice separate from ice used to chill foods in a cooler; and do not handle ice with bare hands - use a clean cup or scoop.
• Keep food and utensils covered until serving time.
• Food should not be exposed to temperatures above 40F and below 140℉ for more than 4 hours including preparation and transportation time.
• Do not take leftovers home - toss them out. The food has been handled by many people and may be contaminated.

Other Requirements

• Suitable utensils must be provided by the sponsoring party to reduce/minimize guest’s manual contact with food.
• Resale of food items is not permitted.
• At the conclusion of the event, any leftover food taken from the facility becomes the responsibility of the contracted caterer or sponsoring party; likewise, leftover food remaining must be disposed of immediately by the contracted caterer sponsoring party.

Bake Sales

Bake sales are only permitted in areas approved as concession locations. Baked goods must be pre-portioned and individually wrapped (i.e. plastic wrap) prior to the event. This eliminates the need for a hand washing station and the need to clean and sanitize utensils at the site. All baked goods must be labeled with product names and ingredients for those who have food allergies or sensitivities

Contacts

• Questions regarding these guidelines should be directed to the Office of Risk & Compliance Management: (570) 408-4554
• Setup requirements should be directed to the Department of Facilities Management: (570) 408-2FIX