With a snazzy new website and approving nods from PETA for vegan friendliness and from the Sustainable Endowment Institute for green food practices, dining halls at Boston University appear to have accomplished the impossible: making college food not only edible, but appealing.

However, beyond the admirable and appetizing aspects of dining at BU is a short list of unsanitary and unacceptable practices that require reform at the lowest levels of the food chain. BU’s efforts to use local and organically grown produce and to create Sargent Choice options that are healthy for both vegetarians and omnivores are commendable. However, unclean juice machines and food that is kept out until it is approaching disgusting are unacceptable failures in the dining system that demand immediate attention.

The gross juxtaposition between the recommended cleaning procedures for dining hall juice machines from the manufacturer and accounts of cleaning practices from Dining Services personnel is enough to make anyone who has drank dining hall orange juice reconsider his decision.

While reusing food in dining halls is less wasteful than throwing it out, Dining Services should consider donating still good but unused food after a day or two to a charity so that food will be eaten while it is still fresh, rather than remaining in dining halls until it is unappetizing and ultimately thrown out.

The well-stocked dining halls in Warren Towers and West Campus win praise for the university, but the selection in smaller dining halls is insufficient for students with special dietary restrictions, including vegans, and those just looking for variety beyond the same old thing, again and again. Smaller facilities may explain the limited options available at the Myles Standish and Towers dining halls, but the school should act to upgrade outdated facilities to improve student life — and live up to the hype of its advertising to prospective students and the praise it receives from outside groups that only see one side of the Dining Services.

The compliments BU has received from outside organizations are a testament to the improvements it has made to Dining Services over the years. However, a pat on the back is no reason to step back from continuing to make changes to quality-of-life elements that affects students each and every day.