Student workers discovered bugs in an ice machine located in the rear of the Vernon F. Galliano Dining Hall while preparing for the Manning Passing Academy this past summer.

These students, who were employed by the Office of Continuing Education, were in charge of filling bags of ice. They reported to the dining hall where they were instructed to use two particular machines that were located towards the back of the kitchen, according to Stuart Percle, a Mass Communication senior from Thibodaux.

The students noticed there were bugs on the outside of the machine, which they tried to clear away.

“We noticed there were dead bugs outside of the machine, so we tried cleaning the exterior of the machine to the best of our ability and began to bag the ice.” Percle said.
The students then noticed that there were bugs in the ice. They removed the bugs they could find and reported the issue to Sodexo management.

“The Sodexo management ‘searched’ through the ice in the dirty machine and claimed to have found no bugs,” Percle said. “We were very displeased at this because it seemed evident that they intentionally overlooked the bugs so they would not have to address the situation.”

Russell Barrios, General Manager of Dining Services, recalls the issue being brought to his attention “on or about Aug. 8 2014.”

According to Barrios, the incident was reported to Kirkland Collier, Resident Dining Manager, who immediately brought it to his attention. They then inspected the machine and found what resembled black moths “at the very top of the ice, and began removing the ice from the ice bin.”

Barrios recalled asking the students bagging ice to move to the front of the dining hall while he continued cleaning out the machine.

“We discovered that the source of the bugs was from the door leading to the back loading dock being left open for a period of time,” Barrios said. “The bugs collected at the top of the ice machine. In my opinion, when the students opened the door to the ice bin and began bagging ice, the bugs fell into the ice.”

Percle stated, “ I can guarantee that never happened. We never knocked the bugs in there.”

Barrios asked the students to continue using the ice machines at the rear of the dining hall the next day.

“We cleaned the ice machine and bin and allowed the student workers to return bagging ice,” Barrios said.

This wwas the first time Barrios encountered an incident of this nature saying, “This is the first and only occasion that we experienced bugs being in the ice of any of our ice machines located on campus.”