Food budget bulge could hit CSULB

By Cheryl Hannigan
Online Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer

Associated Press reporter Pamela Hamilton recently released an article about rising food prices at certain universities throughout the United States. The cause of these price jumps can be attributed to the recently popular Atkin's diet, which concentrates mainly on protein-rich foods such as meat, vegetables, and cheese and shuns away high carbohydrate foods such as bread. Proteins cost more than carbohydrates. As a result, prices have risen.

"I would say it's an overall trend throughout food service," said Clint Campbell, director of retail food service operations at California State Long Beach. Campbell also stated that a pasta line here has seen a 3 percent decrease in business, and hamburgers without buns have become popular among students.

At Clemson University in South Carolina, a single meal in the dining hall that previously cost $5.79 now costs $6.19, a 30-cent increase. For the plan that includes 15 meals a week, the cost is $1,022 a semester—a $25 price increase from the previous year.

According the article, Aramark, a company that provides food to more than 400 campuses, said that they had seen protein intake at Clemson University increase. However, they also stated that there is no overall statistical increase in the amount of proteins at universities across the nation. A survey of 639 college students done in January by Aramark found that most students focus their diets mainly on fat, sugar, and calorie intake. On the other hand, 18 percent of those surveyed did admit to decreasing their amount of carbohydrates and increasing the amount of protein in their diet.

Patti Gray, director of residential dining services, confirmed that CSULB has indeed seen an increase in protein consumption. "It's not so much the amount of meat consumed, it's mostly eggs. Our egg consumption has doubled, but overall the cost of food hasn't really risen," Gray said. "I don't anticipate it rising for that reason. If it does, it would be mainly because of floods or other issues with the food producers."

If prices do rise here at CSULB, it would not be occurring anytime soon. "If prices do rise, it will be done at the beginning of the fall semester. I don't really anticipate anything like that happening here. We try to keep the food prices as stable as possible," Campbell said.