UA Establishes New Program for Catering Vendors

Bob Pugh

Although Bob Pugh has been a member of the UA community for just more than a year, he already is making a positive difference on campus to students, faculty and visitors alike.

For example, Pugh, who is director of risk management and special projects, has had an impact on potential food safety issues by enacting a program designed to approve catering vendors.

“The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that food-borne diseases cause 76 million illnesses in the United States each year,” said Pugh. “And, as we have seen from recent E. coli outbreaks at the University of Michigan and Michigan State University, universities are not immune from food-borne illnesses that result from improper food preparation.

“This is an important issue, and we believe we can reduce the odds of people getting sick by working with our outside vendors to increase the safe handling of the food provided by our caterers.”

Pugh met with representatives from departments around campus to design a program that will help increase the safe handling of catered food and streamline the contracting and payment process for campus departments and vendors.

Pugh, team members and more than 25 event planners studied catering programs at several universities. “Some universities have a single vendor responsible for every event on campus, and others have a mix of vendors,” Pugh said. “The program we designed is probably closest to the programs at LSU, Mississippi State University and The University of Kentucky.”

The new program asks vendors to supply documentation that includes company history, safety information, license and health department permits information and access to the vendor’s health safety ratings. Vendors also sign a licensing agreement assuming liability for injuries, illnesses and damages, and provide proof of insurance. The University provides food safety training to approved vendors who have limited or no access to such training.

“Approval demonstrates that a vendor is in compliance with a new Alabama State Food Safety requirement for caterers that goes into effect Jan. 1, 2010,” Pugh said. “While approval does not guarantee that UA will use the vendor, it does place the vendor on a list that is available on the UA Web site to all event coordinators and organizations. Because the program is designed to ease the payment process, event coordinators will see additional benefits when they use university-approved vendors.”

Vendors who are interested in UA’s approved caterer program should visit http://financialaffairs. ua.edu/riskmgmt/index.htm or contact Pugh at 348-0395.