Mr. [Aramark employee],
It does not specify on the ARAMARK website that the policy only pertains to individuals with food allergies. Also, in no way does the site even suggest that these allergies must be documented.
I am aware that ARAMARK is not legally obligated to provide me with the ingredient information for the food served at my school. However, I believe that it is an ethical obligation, as your site clearly states that the information can be requested upon by customers, and does not specify any qualities which these customers must possess.
I am also quite aware that the D300 website offers a nutritional calculator. However, I do not believe that this allows me to monitor the nutritional content of my meals at school. For example, did you know that a termite contains approximately 14 grams of protein? Interestingly enough, a half cup of cooked soybeans also contains about 14 grams of protein.
However, I would never confuse the two. Unless of course they were found in foods in which the ingredient information was kept from me, and I only had the nutritional data available to make a decision as to whether or not to consume them.
In no way, sir, am I suggesting that ARAMARK would ever contaminate its food with termites to replace soybeans (even if it may save a few pennies here and there). However, the idea remains valid. In order to make responsible and intelligent decisions about what I put into my body, I must be able to decipher between termites and soybeans, sugar and high-fructose corn syrup, natural oils and those that have been partially-hydrogenated, etc. etc.
Now as far as me being a customer to ARAMARK, I recently purchased something in the cafeteria in order to make matters very simple for us.
I hope that clears up everything and I look forward to reviewing the cafeteria food ingredient information for my school very soon.
Until then,
Tara
Friday, April 30, 2010
Response email to Aramark regarding ingredient transparency policy
The following email is the response I sent to Aramark after having received the email featured in my blog's latest entry.
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You go girl! :)
ReplyDeleteYou are my hero!
ReplyDelete- chasingdawn5683
Good Job Tara!
ReplyDeleteThis letter is excellent. Using a termite vs. soybeans to illustrate your point is pure genius.
ReplyDeleteI'm a mother of a toddler (we live in Edinburgh, so hi from bonny Scotland!) and I happened upon your blog today. It's great to see people raising awareness and fighting against the plasticisation of our children's food. How can we expect the next generation to learn well, grow strong and stay healthy if we feed them the lowest common denominator, chemical-laden goo at school?
ReplyDeleteI love your email to Aramark, and am still seething at their patronising, evasive and downright dishonest responses to your perfectly reasonable requests for information. Don't let up - you're doing a fab job!
Gill Joseph (and little Cian)
Scotland