Coffee slip during water crisis
Despite orders to shut down all water taps, the coffee vending machine in the SV cafeteria was in use last Thursday.
På norsk- It was a slip-up in the middle of a serious situation and we are very sorry that it happened, says Kenneth Smørdal, Head of the Student Cafeterias.
After citizens in Oslo were warned not to drink tap water due to potentially infectious parasites in the drinking water supply last Wednesday, the Student Cafeterias ordered all the cafeterias to shut down all water taps and coffee vending machines. Nevertheless, the one in the SV cafeteria was still being used the day afterwards for about an hour after 10.30.
- We were taking a round to check that everything was in order, when we found that the machine was being used. We immediately shut it down, Smørdal says.
- This is very irresponsible. They were well informed on the situation and knew that the water was potentially dangerous. They should have made sure that something like this could not happen, says Elma Drinjakovic, a bachelor student in International Studies.
She and her friend, Amila Begic, a bachelor student in Psychology, says that they buy their coffees in the SV cafeteria several times a day.
- I wonder why they let it happen. After all, I don’t believe that they want to do us any harm, Begic says.
Misinterpreted
Smørdal explains that reason why the machine was turned on, was due to a misinterpretation of the media.
- There were a lot of information on the radio, for instance on P4. They referred to the Norwegian Food Safety Authority, who said that coffee vending machines that kept 80-90 degrees were fine. But the SV cafeteria should have waited for a go-ahead from the management in the Student Cafeterias, Smørdal stresses.
- Afterwards, it has been confirmed that the machine in the SV cafeteria was of the approved type, which means that no one would have come to any harm.
Still, he is not happy that the cafeteria at SV made the judgment to open the machine.
- This was an announcement that came to us through the radio. These things happen from time to time, but we wanted to have it confirmed by the Food Safety Authority before opening the coffee vending machines on Campus, he adds.
