Seoudi Dissatisfies Some Dorm Residents

BY DINA SABRY
@DEENASABRY

A number of dorm residents have for the past few months complained about food quality at Seoudi market and have turned instead to off-campus alternatives.

However, no official complaints were filed with the Office of University Food Services.

Although Seoudi is only a short distance away from the dorms, it’s become a common sight to see dorm residents carrying bags from Carrefour and Oscar hypermarkets.

Integrated marketing communications junior Rawan El Shaer has stopped shopping at Seoudi citing the ease of buying groceries off campus.

“When they are transporting vegetables and all frozen items, [the items] defrost and then they throw it in the freezer and freeze it again,” El Shaer told The Caravan.

El Shaer added that she is afraid of buying chicken at Seoudi because she fears falling ill.

Architecture junior Mai Youssef also complained about the quality of the food at Seoudi, saying that she had repeatedly purchased rotten fruits and vegetables.

Seoudi manager Youssef Abdelghany said that fresh fruits and vegetables arrive to the campus branch every morning at 10am and the staff make sure nothing rotten is left on the shelf.

Abdelghany said: “If there is ever any problem with anything someone purchased, they can easily return it.”

“Even if they throw it away, they can still come talk to us and we make sure we provide them with an alternative,” Abdelghany added.

One issue both students stressed is how the market only sells imported goods for some products which are double the price of the domestic equivalent.

“There are Egyptian alternatives for the imported goods but they do not provide us with it. Even if they want to sell the imported goods, they should provide us with both options and leave the choice to the consumer,” said Youssef.

Abdelghany clarified that the market makes sure to provide both alternatives unless one of them is out of stock.

To tackle these issues, Youssef believes the Office of University Food Services should strictly supervise Seoudi.

“We constantly see pest controls on all the food outlets on campus, but we never see anything like that with Seoudi,” said Youssef.

Food safety Auditor Ayman Shams told The Caravan that Seoudi is always under regular supervision while receiving transported goods.

“Complaints we received about Seoudi never were about food quality. If so, we immediately put the suspected products on hold till our deep investigation conclude the case,” said Shams.

“I don’t feel [Food Services] make themselves easily accessible to students. I don’t even know where they are on campus,” complained El Shaer.

However, neither she nor Youssef has directed their complaints to the Food Services and Shams explained that in case of complaints, students should contact the office.