After Ronnie Berman washes organic broccoli in the sink, he shines a fluorescent light on the rinse water.

He's looking for insects — tiny ones unseen to the naked eye. The light will show them, as will a jeweler's loop that Berman is planning to buy soon.

At Franklin & Marshall College, Berman is the mashgiach or, as he jokingly defines, the kosher police.

He makes sure all Jewish dietary rules are kept in the new KIVO (kosher, international, vegetarian and organic) section of the private college's main dining hall.

Broccoli with insects on it is not kosher. If there is evidence of insects, Berman makes sure the broccoli is not served to students.

The mashgiach is an essential part of F&M's new dining section that is completely kosher in its offerings. It just opened as part of the main Benjamin Franklin Dining Hall, where most on-campus students eat.

Selected foods also are organic. And vegetarians, vegans and students who prefer ethnic foods will find entrées that meet their preferences.

However, the kosher designation is what sets F&M apart. The college is now one of only 46 colleges in the country that offer a full kosher meal plan, according to www.hillel.org, a foundation for Jewish campus life.

About 10 percent of F&M's student population is Jewish, estimated Ralph Taber, senior associate dean of the college and dean of students.

However, the impetus for adding KIVO did not just come from Jewish students, Taber said. Students have been asking for healthier eating options that allow them to maintain their religious and ethical convictions, he said.

Rebecca Rehr, a junior, doesn't eat kosher as part of her Jewish religion, but she has friends who do. In the past, she witnessed them becoming vegetarian or giving up their religious convictions by eating nonkosher meats — "which is kind of sad," Rehr said.

Johanna Schein, a freshman at F&M, is relieved to have the kosher dining area at her disposal.

"I don't eat any meat without knowing where it is from," said Schein. Even if meat appears acceptable to a kosher diet, she's never confident that it hasn't been combined with or touched by cheese or pork, which would make the meat unacceptable to her.

No kosher food comes into the separate food storage area without being approved by Berman. Likewise, it does not move from storage to the preparation area without being inspected, as with the broccoli.

At the service station, Berman makes sure all food is handled according to kosher rules.

Meats and cheeses may not touch, not even in the stomach of a devout Jew, Berman said, so the serving station is divided into a meat side and a cheese and vegetable side.

The sides are color-coded, so none of the utensils, towels or aprons pass from one side to the other. Even colored place mats are provided so the most devout Jew can be assured he or she is not eating meat on the same surface where someone else ate cheese.

All the plates are disposable because keeping cheese and meat plates separate in the dish room was too expensive and too complicated, Taber said.

Since many students who are not Jewish get food from the KIVO dining hall, part of Berman's job is to educate. If someone brings food from a different section of the dining room and wants to add something from KIVO, Berman makes sure they get a second plate.

"We can't take their plates because our utensils are touching their plates," Berman said. They would no longer be kosher.

Once the food is at the table, students can combine the food any way they want to, as long as the serving area stays kosher, said Kevin Dean, general manager of dining services.

Establishing a kosher dining area has been a learning experience for college administrators too.

"It's quite an opportunity for myself," said Barry Bosley, associate vice president for administration. "We all got a real education on kosher food service."

The college has invested a significant amount of money to renovate a previous fast-food section of the dining room into KIVO food service, although Taber declined to say how much.

The college bought all new equipment so it wouldn't be tainted by nonkosher food. The storage areas had to be renovated to hold only kosher food. The college also had to hire Berman and contract with Sodexho Food Service for the food and with Star-K, a quality assurance organization that certifies kosher dining establishments.

Berman admits student demand was not the only motivation for the investment. The KIVO dining room will serve as a recruiting tool for students who desire this kind of service.

Some colleges have a separate dining hall or special house for Jewish students where kosher food is served, but that arrangement tends to segregate, he said.

At F&M, Jewish students can now eat at the main dining hall with all the other students and eat kosher every day except Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath.

Rehr said she was concerned initially that even the KIVO section would divide Jewish students from others, but it hasn't worked that way.

Chelsea Schein, a freshman from Baltimore who is Jewish and a sister to Johanna, said she had to wait in line behind college football players at lunch last week while they ordered steak sandwiches.

She is glad for the opportunity to explain her religion to people who aren't familiar with Jewish traditions. Other students tend to ask questions when they see her eating from a plastic plate.

Laura Schimberg, a Jewish sophomore, said she thinks KIVO might motivate her to be a little more observant.

What she appreciates most about KIVO is the respect it demonstrates, she said.

"It's not so much about the food," Schemerg said, "as that the college is taking initiative to accommodate different varieties of lifestyles."

E-mail: lespenshade@lnpnews.com