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Safety & Quality Assurance

Home Living Dining Quality Assurance

Duke EATS

Duke Dining’s Evaluation and Training Standards (Duke EATS) is our innovative quality control program, which establishes clear standards for how our locations should operate with respect to customer service, employee training, and food safety. Duke EATS also provides a framework for how our locations are evaluated against these standards.

Duke EATS is comprised of 4 different components:

1. Independent third-party food safety and operational assessments conducted by a contract service

2. Durham County Health Department inspections

3. Duke Dining’s Mystery Diner Program

4. Duke Dining’s Training Program

Additionally, Duke Dining requires that all of its locations have HACCP (hazard analysis and critical control point) protocols in place. These HACCP plans guide locations on how to properly and safely receive, store, prepare, and serve food. They include procedures such as regularly checking and recording the temperature of foods and regularly cleaning food-contact surfaces.

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Third-Party Food Safety & Operational Assessments

Every Duke Dining location undergoes a third-party assessment at least 3 times per year to ensure it is following proper procedures related to storing food, preparing food, and serving food. These assessments also review the cleanliness and conditions of our operations. After each assessment, the dining location is required to submit a corrective action plan for any identified issues. This process provides Duke Dining with consistent, reliable, and actionable information on the day-to-day performance of our locations.

Dining Location of the Month

Each month, Duke Dining celebrates the work of one of its locations. Every employee at the Dining Location of the Month is given a pin to wear proudly on their uniforms. The location is also featured in our campus-wide newsletter and receives a banner to display at their operation. The winning location is chosen based on Health Department scores, third-party inspection scores, Mystery Diner scores, training performance, customer feedback that has been submitted online or shared with Duke Dining admin, and other performance indicators like sustainability efforts and management practices.

Allergen Safety

Before their first day of work, every Duke Dining team member must complete an allergen safety training course, and locations are constantly assessed to ensure they’re following proper procedures in preparing and serving foods containing common allergens. Duke Dining offers a number of resources to support students and customers with allergen concerns. Allergen information for foods served on campus should be available at all Duke Dining locations. This information is also available online through Duke Dining’s NetNutrition tool. To learn more about the allergen resources available to students, visit our Nutrition & Dietary Information page.

Durham County Health Department Inspections

Annual inspections are conducted by a county health inspector for all of our locations that prepare food on-site. If a Duke Dining location scores below a 97, it is required to immediately submit a corrective action plan to Duke Dining administration.

Duke Dining's Mystery Diner Program

The Mystery Diner program recruits students, staff, and faculty to visit all our locations and assess their experiences. Diners rate each location’s customer service, allergen safety and accommodations, food quality, cleanliness, and overall impression. All Duke Dining locations are visited by a mystery diner once per month.

Duke Dining's Training Program

Duke Dining requires all team members to undergo training on food safety, customer service, allergen safety, anti-bias, sexual harassment, halal dining, and kosher dining. Before their first day of work, every team member must complete the food safety and allergen safety courses, and every manager must earn their ServSafe certification.

Duke Dining's COVID-19 Response

Now and always, the safety of Duke’s students, guests, and employees is our number-one priority. We are working directly with Duke’s COVID-19 response teams to closely monitor the situation and take proactive steps to protect the health and safety of our community.

In addition to our existing stringent health and safety protocols, we are taking extra precautions to ensure we’re doing everything we can to keep our community safe. We have implemented team training specific to COVID-19 to ensure staff members are following safety protocols both in and outside of their work environment. Inside seating is currently open but we strongly encourage you to eat outside when possible. Please follow the Updated Guidelines for Eating on Campus.  

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How we're caring for our students and the rest of the Duke community:

  • Mobile ordering is available with our Duke Dine-Out app w/ a contactless pick-up option
  • Tamper-evident packaging seals are placed on every mobile order.
  • Students still residing on campus can utilize contactless pick-up locations, which have been conveniently placed near on-campus residential buildings.
  • We’ve installed additional hand sanitizing stations and signage to encourage clean hand hygiene for all guests and staff.
  • We are providing specially-prepared care meals for students in required isolation.

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How we're taking extra precautions in our operations:

  • Ensuring that ALL employees (managers & supervisors included) answer all questions on the Employee Health Questionnaire prior to the start of their work shift as REQUIRED
  • All Duke University contractors are required to be vaccinated
  • Every Duke Dining team member undergoes a wellness screening process to check for symptoms before beginning work.
  • All Duke Dining team members are undergoing extra training sessions on preventing potential transmission of the Coronavirus.
  • All team members, Duke staff, and guests are required to wear a face mask when in a Duke Dining facility.
  • All Duke Dining team members are required to wash their hands every 20 minutes and between tasks.
  • All Duke Dining team members are required to wear gloves when preparing food or serving a guest.
  • High-Touch surfaces are required to be cleaned between every order.

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Additional steps we're taking to respond to COVID-19:

  • Established an internal task force to monitor and provide guidance in real-time
  • Conducting 3rd-party inspections focused on preventing Covid-19 transmission