Worms, bugs and mold — oh my.
Some USC students claim when they grab a meal at the campus dining halls, they’re getting a whole lot more than they bargained for.
In cringy pictures and videos posted to social media, students showcase the creepy-crawly additives they claim are lurking in their food from two of USC’s main dining halls — Everybody’s Kitchen and the USC Village Dining Hall.
The videos, all allegedly taken over the past three months, were confirmed to be from USC students by the university’s student-run news outlet, Annenberg Media.
In one video, a bug resembling a maggot is seen inching across a student’s plate at Everybody’s Kitchen in early September, according to Annenberg Media.
Another student-captured video that shows a green bug blending into a salad was allegedly shot at the USC Village Dining Hall on Nov. 22.
A third student was mid-way through eating her broccoli when she says she noticed what looked like a “worm-like” bug on her broccoli stalk and yelled, “Oh my God!,” according to the Annenberg Media investigation.
“Then she freaked out, and she didn’t eat there for two weeks,” her friend, Ilana Jacobson, shared with Annenberg Media.
In yet another post, flagged,”trigger warning: bugs,” on TikTok, it showed a photo of a fly on lunch meat and mold on slices of bread inside Everybody’s Kitchen, Annenberg Media reported.
“We have a strong record of safely delivering 30-40,000 meals per day on our campuses, and consistently earn “A”’s from the Department of Public Health which conducts regular, unannounced inspections. For these reasons, we were greatly surprised to hear of these reports, which we are closely examining to verify and improve,” Dirk de Jong, Assistant Vice President, USC Hospitality told The Post.
“We have already begun instituting new inspection protocols to ensure that our high standards for food safety and quality are consistently being met both internally and by our vendors.”
In a report from September 2021, the County recorded a “minor violation” for failing a category that read “no insect, rodent, birds, or animals present,” according to public health records.
This is in line with their guidance that says, “insects, including beetles, moths, larvae, fruit flies, ants, and gnats”will receive a minor violation.
Meanwhile, students learning about the videos are vowing to never eat at Everybody’s Kitchen again, “I would never eat [at EVK] again if I heard there were maggots,” said Eli Kashfian, a freshman majoring in law, history and culture. “I think that’s absolutely vile,” Annenberg Media reported.
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