Re: Boxed food lunches
 

Remember that this was the venue's food not First's food:)

Re: Boxed food lunches
 

then why was the dome venue's food if we ordered it in the line? (chicken tenders and etc) so good and not the boxed food?

Re: Boxed food lunches
 

My turkey and chese sandwich was... edible. The cookie was pretty cool with the edible St. Louis FIRST logo. However, I'd rather stand in line at Subway for half an hour talking to other teams. It was a much more enjoyable experience.

Re: Boxed food lunches
 

Five or six member of 176 got sick Saturday night or Sunday morning. We suspect that it might have been the food; specifically the boxed meals. Almost all of us purchased the preorder lunches, and all of us had the finale boxed dinner. Many of our students were throwing up in their hotel rooms Saturday evening, and even during the trip back on Sunday.

I don't think we'll be doing these boxed meals again soon.

Re: Boxed food lunches
 

When students from multiple teams report being sick from the food, that is a problem.

Everyone except me on our team got the box after Einstein. Luckily everyone only took one or two bites, and we went to get REAL food.

If people were getting sick from this, there DEFINITELY needs to be multiple emails sent to FIRST regarding this.

Re: Boxed food lunches
 

If this was truly the case (which by reading the posts it seems to be), there not only should be a letter (or call) to FIRST (as mentioned in the post above), but you should contact either the dome or the St. Louis health department about this issue. When people's health and safety is compromised because of provided food there is a much larger issue than "the food tasted bad". The health standards of any state, if met, should not allow such events as this to happen.

Re: Boxed food lunches
 

Quoted for truth. Does anyone even slightly doubt this?

Anyway, the Saturday cookie was not at all bad. Must've been an Archway cookie...

Re: Boxed food lunches
 

I wont be doing them either. Some people on our team got sick as well. We should email FIRST definitely.

Re: Boxed food lunches
 

It was probably the mold inside the turkey wrap... A team member found it on hers, my whole team examined theirs.. was on every wrap.. we took them back. they offered replacements.. I said they will probably have mold on them as well.. they offered ham and cheese.. I said you may want to stop handing them out.. they said, throw them away and I'll get you ham... and continued handing them out.. So we went to all we saw eating them and told them to examine them before eating! The ham and swiss had brown lettuce and hard cheese... we opted for corn dogs... :( what a waste of $10!!! I've already written the caterer and FIRST... I hope more do... We had team members sick as well!

Re: Boxed food lunches
 

We only had the meals provided for the wrap party, and were disappointed that there were no alternative (such as gluten-free) meals available for several of our team members that have dietary restrictions.

Re: Boxed food lunches
 

This is way too much illness that MAY be related to the boxed lunches, or other problem within the venue. Contact the local health department with known info. They will want to hear about it. Contact info for health department in city of St. Louis can be found here:

http://health.mo.gov/living/lpha/cou...LouisCity.html

They can provide you with information on how to officially report the problems/illnesses. If a number of people have contacted the venue about the illnesses, they should have already contacted the health department.

Re: Boxed food lunches
 

I didn't even go to championships this year, and I am absolutely mortified. In 3 years of FIRST (not a long time, but bear with me) I've only succumbed to venue food once, and it's because the gap between selections and elims was 15 minutes.

Still, moldy food? I checked my salad at dinner tonight, and I'm 15 hours from St. Louis and 3 days removed. Like all things in FIRST, I hope, best case, everyone can at least take a lesson from it. If not, maybe you'll develop a higher immunity to foodborne illnesses. Maybe.

Re: Boxed food lunches
 

Before I came to the championships I was in Boston visiting my mother for Easter and saw a news story on the 6 o clock news about a mother (who happens to be a chef) suing a bakery for getting her son sick (and killing an elderly man who got sick as well). If this is a similar occurrence I think the proper authorities and find out who is responsible for the food so they can be properly investigated. This is serious business. What if these people kill someone next time?

Re: Boxed food lunches
 

I know that Dean and Woodie weren't slaving over a hot stove here...but as the primary customer of the arena, FIRST can undoubtedly shake a larger stick than each of us can individually. Even if contracts mean FIRST can't use a different source for boxed lunches, the extra attention may lead to improvements.