University officials have made food-preparation training mandatory for students who wish to sell food on campus.

Concerning what we had heard prior — that student-run food sales would be banned completely — this seemed like a consolation – but not quite.

While officials encourage students to reach out to communities and become more active in club movements, it should be expected that administrators should facilitate these practices instead of making them more difficult.

Student organization members may be reluctant to host fund-raising food sales due to the mandatory training, as it would become more time-consuming.

It doesn’t just end there: administrators also require students to use materials from Sodexo kitchens to prepare food for student sales. In exchange for raw materials, meals are deducted from students’ meal plans.

It can be expected that the usual sight of student organization members selling baked goods outside the Tuck Shop; fraternity brothers knocking on doors selling cheesesteaks; and cookouts on the campus mall become more scarce, if not disappear completely.

Needless to say, the implementation of this training was to reduce food poisoning risks, which, limits liability issues for the university and student organizations.

But we think it is an overwrought concern.

Understanding how to sanitarily handle food is elementally basic, as well as whether meat is cooked well enough to be safely consumed.

The food-handling training should still be offered, but on a voluntary, not required.

It also should be the students’ decision to purchase their choice of raw materials, instead of limiting them to just Sodexo’s finite choice of ingredients.

Administrators should be more concerned on how to encourage students to become community-active, including holding food sales, and more concerned that there may not be enough of them.