The University’s culinary team changed its recipes before the start of the spring semester but not its food identification system, leaving students confused about halal-friendly options. 

University Housing and Dining changed a few of its popular menu items’ recipes during its last menu update. Previously, halal friendly options were labeled with the “H” icon, and other icons identified food allergens, meat products and vegan or vegetarian options. However, after the menu update, icons labeling the dietary preferences of the new recipes have not been updated to reflect which food is halal friendly, said Cailin Rosborough, a University Housing and Dining spokesperson.  

Because of the changed food status, Muslim students, like design freshman Farah Kamal, noticed over the last few weeks the food options they relied on appeared to be gone.  

“In the last menu update, some recipes were changed in our system for easier menu forecasting but the new recipes were not labeled with halal icons — even though they are halal friendly,” the culinary team said in an email statement relayed by Rosborough. “We are currently in the process of fixing the halal icon labeling for the changed recipes.” 

Due to the lack of labels on the menus, Kamal said she assumed the halal options were removed on the J2 and Jester City Limits menus, so she resorted to off-campus meals. Kamal said she didn’t expect having to spend extra money and time to get food.

“It’s kind of just harder to have to go out of your way, especially when you’ve paid for a dining hall plan,” Kamal said.

The culinary team said the hall’s beef hamburgers and grilled chicken breasts have maintained the halal-friendly status they possessed for the past four years, and that the team will continue to offer meal requests to students for Ramadan, which will begin on Feb. 28. The distribution of the meals for Ramadan is still being discussed, Rosborough said.