Did You Know?

Here are some interesting facts about Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS):

. Every day on the Freshman Union's salad bar, there are 120 pounds of salad greens, 60 pounds of the daily salad, 110 pounds of tomatoes, 50 pounds of cucumbers, 35 pounds of humus, 25 pounds of shredded cheese, 25 pounds of carrot sticks, 20 pounds of celery sticks, 14 pounds of chopped eggs, 12 pounds of tofu and seven pounds of spinach.

. The Union also uses 1056 oranges, 600 apples, 264 grapefruit halves and 120 gallons of milk every day.

. HUDS' entire annual budget for food purchases is $4-5 million a year. Of that, 22 percent is spent on meat and poultry. Depending on that week's menu, between 3000 and 5000 pounds of beef and about 8000 pounds of poultry are served.

. Almost all the meat is bought "hanging"--the carcass of the animal is inspected and cuts are made from it. Very little of the meat is delivered boxed and pre-cut.

. Dining services has a "test kitchen" for all new menu items before they are served to students. The item is prepared for a small group of Dining Services administrators, and they have to give their approval before the item is put on the menu.

. Cooks are sometimes hired through ads in the local papers, but HUDS encourages Union employees in lower positions to become cooks through on-the-job training.

. The Union has one worker entirely devoted to preparing the salad bar. The employee works from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m., checking a computer list to determine how much to put out, then preparing the salad bar items for both lunch and dinner.

. All the soups are homemade, except for cream of tomato, which is from Campbell's.

. Every single menu item has a recipe number in the computer--even the jello.