Healthy Eating

Providing you with healthy options is something your dining team proudly does every day. We help you select delicious, nutritious and satisfying meals, snacks and desserts by highlighting well-balanced menu choices and providing nutritional information and tips to help you make choices that fit your needs.

Food Allergies

We take pride in serving you wholesome ingredients, preparing recipes accurately and providing nutritional analysis and ingredient statements through our online menus and nutrition calculator.  From our general manager to our front line servers, we work carefully to address food allergies, celiac diets, or other special dietary needs.  

We want to meet one-on-one with anyone who has individual dining needs to ensure that your dining experience is safe, delicious, and social.  If you have a food allergy or special dietary concern, please contact Taylor Nixt, the Campus Dietitian so she can assist you while dining on campus.  Contact Taylor either by phone (507) 389-1441, or email taylor.nixt.2@mnsu.edu.  In many instances, our dining team can assist with special needs.

We also suggest you check the daily menus prior to going to the dining center to cross check ingredients and allergens in the menu items that are being served.  Our menu system provides information about the top nine allergens: milk, wheat, soy, sesame, shellfish, fish, peanuts, and tree nuts.  The absence of an allergen listed does not guarantee that the item is free from that allergen.  The guest is responsible for communicatiing their allergy to the Campus Dietitian, a manager, or supervisor to ensure safety.

Meet the Dietitian

We are happy to introduce Taylor Nixt, RDN, LDN as our Campus Dietitan.

Taylor Nixt

Taylor is a Minnesota State University, Mankato alumna with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Dietetics. She completed her post-graduate dietetic internship through Utah State University. She is a member of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and is an advisory member of Minnesota State University, Mankato’s Dietetics Advisory Council.

She offers students who are on a meal plan individual nutrition counseling for nutrition related topics including but not limited to:

•Weight loss/gain/maintenance
•Allergies/Intolerances
•Diabetes
•Gastrointestinal Disorders
•Sports nutrition
•Vegetarian or Vegan diets
•Celiac disease
•Incorporation of a healthy lifestyle

She also guides students in our various dining service locations on how to locate our Mindful meals, award winning Simple Servings station, and provides education on how to create a healthy and balanced plate for every meal. Group nutrition presentations available upon request. Topics vary.

Contact Taylor by phone at (507) 389-1441 or by email. 

Follow us on Facebook at Sodexo RD at MNSU and/or Instagram at rdmnsu to find out about events happening on campus and information on nutrition, allergies and wellness.  For more information click here.

Simple Servings

Simple Servings  which can be found in the University Dining Center,  is our solution to proactively address most of the ingredients that account for 90 percent of all food-allergy reactions: milk, eggs, wheat, soy, shellfish, peanuts, tree nuts, and sesame. Simple Servings also recognizes the current skyrocketing demand for gluten-free foods, which certain students may require out of medical necessity (celiac disease) or simply by choice. Simple Servings also appeals to students who prefer plain and simple foods and those with other health-related dietary concerns, such as Type I diabetes. With Simple Servings, students can comply with food allergy or other dietary concerns without feeling singled out. They won't have to go off campus for their meals or miss out on dining with their friends while waiting for the chef to specially prepare their meals. All foods offered at the Simple Serving station are naturally free of milk, eggs, wheat, soy, shellfish, peanuts, tree nuts, sesame and gluten. Straightforward preparation techniques assure transparency of ingredients, and help students prepare to be responsible for their own shopping and cooking in future. The lunch and dinner menu change daily and include varied protein options: fish, beef, pork, chicken, and turkey. All side dishes are vegan, containing no milk, eggs, or meat products.

Mindful mindful-icon

Mindful is Sodexo's health & wellness approach that helps you make healthy choices second nature! We are committed to creating healthy environments for our customers. Central to this effort is providing healthy, nutritious foods. The result of this initiative is an approach that focuses on transparency of ingredients, delicious food, satisfying portions and clarity in message so that you can make Mindful choices!

Mindful offerings meet stringent nutritional criteria based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Each meal part is limited in calories, has fewer than 30% of calories as fat, fewer than 10 % of calories as saturated fat, and is restricted in sodium, and cholesterol. Look for the Mindful icon to indulge in the healthy and delicious items offered at each meal.

VegetarianMenu items with the Vegetarian icon are made without fish, poultry, or other meat products. Our vegetarian offerings meet the needs of lacto-ovo vegetarians and vegetarian products offered may include eggs and/or dairy products.

VeganVegan offerings are made without meat, fish, eggs, milk, or other animal-derived products. Minnesota State University is proud to offer the Roasted Roots Vegan station for lunch and dinner daily