KIRSTINA BOLTON | staff writer

Heritage Court received an “A” rating after it was re-inspected on Nov. 19 by the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services.

It had originally received a “B” on Nov. 8, which resulted from an equipment malfunction that coincidently occurred on the same day as the inspection, according to Food Services employees.

After being stamped with a “B,” a first for Heritage Court, the dining area went under instant remodeling, where all the employees cleaned and improved everything, according to the Director of Hospitality Services, Samuel Samaan.

Senior physical education major Christian Ernst has been working at Heritage for a year and a half. He loved working there, up until this year.

“It’s gotten pretty intense this year,” Ernst said, “They’ve gotten a little bit more strict.”

Ernst’s fellow coworkers were working when the inspection occurred.

News of the rating spread quickly around campus, and soon many students were talking about the it. Some came to conclusions that compared Heritage with the infamous Taco King.

“It doesn’t look like Heritage would be a ‘B’,” sophomore biblical studies and computer science double major Michael Muñoz said. “It will be interesting to see what the real reason was.”

Some question what the other food services around campus were rated.

“If Heritage was rated a ‘B’,” freshman graphic design major Mitchell Dong said, “I would want to know what the Den was rated.”

Without knowing the real reason behind the rating, some students have felt uncomfortable about the food they were being served.

Ernst tried to clear this up, simply stating, “It wasn’t like someone cut off their finger and we still cooked it.”

According to Samaan, the technical problem with the freezers is not something students should worry about.

“We just had an equipment problem,” Samaan said.

The rating consisted of little things that unfortunately added up in the end. The drain that the freezer water dripped into was not the cleanest; the walls behind the refrigerators and the tiles lining the floors were less than perfect as well.

These technicalities can easily lower any score; just ask Taco King, which has been up and down between an “A” and a “B” rating many times in the past.

The main upset to the inspectors at Heritage was the temperatures of the freezers.

The freezers that held the meat had not been working properly. However, Samaan ensured that the problem has now been fixed.

“We’re back at an ‘A’,” Samaan said.

As for the other food courts around campus, they are inspected at different times, but as of now, they all have “A” ratings.

“There is nothing to worry about,” Samaan said. “It was a mechanical problem, we fixed it, and now its fine.”