The nutritional calculator on the Dining Services' Web site remains under construction due to Dining's summer menu transformation, which added hundreds of new recipes to Rand's and the Commons' meal options.

"It doesn't make sense to start on nutrition until the trial period is up with recipes," said Dining Services Staff Dietitian Dianne Davis. Davis described the nutrition information process as very time consuming because food service foods used by Dining's chefs are not required to have a nutrition label.

"In order to get the nutritional information, we have to go to the manufacturers, who are not always responsive ... it may be three or four weeks until they respond, which holds up the whole recipe," Davis said.

Over the past few years, Dining has been working on improving the nutritional value of its food.

"We have a new direction for the chefs ... going back to basics. Let's have creative, tasty food that uses more grains, more legumes, more veggies," said Camp Howard, director of Dining Services.

Other changes include switching from a vegetable oil to pure canola oil for anything fried, the addition of whole grains and the availability of vegetarian and vegan entree options at both the Commons and Rand Dining Hall.

"Overall, we have a variety of foods available," Davis said, and this variety doesn't count out more unhealthy foods like French fries, hamburgers and fried foods.

"In higher education, the times are changing and we must stay with the trends. We want to give students the food they want and still provide options," Howard said.