As students settled into their first weekend back on campus and co-ops scrambled to fill the elected positions necessary to keep their members fed and healthy, Lorain County General Health Inspector Dorothy Kloos made a surprise inspection of Tank co-op, found the kitchen unfit for food preparation and ordered that it be temporarily closed.

According to College sophomore and Tank Kitchen Coordinator Anna Brunner, the inspection, which occurred during preparations for lunch last Friday, could not have come at a worse time, as the first two weeks of co-op operation, called interim, are a hectic time.

“People are really busy trying to sort out class scheduling things… [shutdown] is something that… is in danger of happening when people are very busy,” Brunner said.

As opposed to one glaring violation of health code, the kitchen was closed for its general condition, which OSCA Cleanliness Coordinator Tracie Haynes described as “filthy.”

“In any typical situation if you walk into a kitchen area and it’s a mess, the assumption is that there are so many potential contaminants—stuff on the floor, prep tables dirty, dishes, food—that it’s not the ideal situation to be fixing a meal,” Haynes said.

Haynes went on to say that the severe understaffing of Tank due to interim did not excuse the state of Tank’s kitchen. “[It] doesn’t change the fact that you’re still held to these food safety standards,” she said.

Kloos also inspected Keep, Pyle Inn and Kosher/Halal co-ops during interim, but cited only minor infractions; not enough to merit a temporary shutdown.

After Kloos’ recommendation, which was endorsed by OSCA officials, Tank’s Dining Loose Ends Coordinators asked Tankers to pitch in and clean up the mess. College senior Ross Hollister, who a reporter found cutting rosemary in the kitchen, said, “Six people came and cleaned. We had to wash every utensil and dish.”

At about 3:30 that same afternoon, Haynes re-inspected Tank’s kitchen and declared it fit to be reopened. Dinner was cooked and served as usual.

Kloos was unavailable to comment for this story.