Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 57.66
Liaison Michael Kensler
Submission Date Jan. 23, 2019
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Auburn University
OP-8: Sustainable Dining

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.75 / 2.00 Glenn Loughridge
Director of Dining Services
Auxiliary Services
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Part 1: Sustainable Dining Initiatives 

Sustainable Dining Policy

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor have a published sustainable dining policy?:
No

A brief description of the sustainable dining policy:
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On-Campus Sourcing 

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor source food from a campus garden or farm?:
Yes

A brief description of the program to source food from a campus garden or farm:
Tiger Dining works closely with the College of Agriculture to procure beef, fish, pork, cucumbers, and tomatoes. All these foods are then marketed to the campus community under the Auburn Foods brand.

Local Community Engagement 

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor host a farmers market, community supported agriculture (CSA) or fishery program, and/or urban agriculture project, or support such a program in the local community?:
Yes

A brief description of the farmers market, CSA or urban agriculture project:
The College of Agriculture hosts an open-air, growers-only farmers market each Thursday from May through August at Ag Heritage Park on campus. Having just completed its 14th year, the market features area vendors offering fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables, herbs, ornamental plants and cut flowers as well as locally produced jams and jellies, baked goods, soaps, honey, goat cheese and more.

Vegan Dining Program 

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor have a vegan dining program that makes diverse, complete-protein vegan options available to every member of the campus community at every meal?:
Yes

A brief description of the vegan dining program:
Every dining hall offers at least one, if not more than one, vegan and vegetarian option at every meal service period. Items meeting vegan and vegetarian standards are clearly identified through a common labeling system across campus. In addition, many other locations on campus have options available and labeled. In addition, the War Eagle Supply convenience stores on-campus feature vegan/vegetarian options in the grab-and-go sections of fresh foods.

Low-Impact Dining Events 

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor host low impact dining events (e.g. Meatless Mondays)?:
Yes

A brief description of the low impact dining events:
Tiger Dining partners with the Office of Sustainability to host the Sustainability Picnic each year during Welcome Week. This zero-waste meal features an all-vegetarian menu curated from almost exclusively locally-grown foods and is available to students, staff, faculty, and the community. Tiger Dining also features Meatless Monday meal options in its dining halls during October and has other meals that feature Auburn Foods, which are locally-grown, locally-produced foods.

Sustainability-Themed Meals 

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor host sustainability-themed meals (e.g. local harvest dinners)?:
Yes

A brief description of the sustainability-themed meals:
Tiger Dining partners with the Office of Sustainability to host the Sustainability Picnic each year during Welcome Week. This zero-waste meal features an all-vegetarian menu curated from almost exclusively locally-grown is available to students, staff, faculty, and the community. In addition, they partner with the College of Agriculture to host an annual Farm Fest that highlights campus-produced foods.

Sustainability-Themed Outlet 

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor host a sustainability-themed food outlet on-site, either independently or in partnership with a contractor or retailer?:
Yes

A brief description of the sustainability-themed food outlet:
The dining venue Fresh from the Plains has curated its menu based on using as much locally-produced food as possible, including featuring the Auburn Foods products. In addition, the venue is a certified Gluten-Free Food Service location, which means the possibility of cross-contamination from gluten does not exist because all foods containing gluten have been removed from the facility.

Labeling and Signage 

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor inform customers about low impact food choices and sustainability practices through labeling and signage in dining halls?:
Yes

A brief description of the sustainability labeling and signage in dining halls:
Tiger Dining uses the Auburn Foods logo to denote foods that have been sourced locally and standardized leaf-shaped logos to signify vegetarian, vegan, whole grain, and "eat well" items that provide at least a full serving of nutritionally dense whole foods, and are lower in calories, saturated fat, and sodium.

Outreach and Education 

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor engage in outreach efforts to support learning and research about sustainable food systems?:
Yes

A brief description of the outreach efforts to support learning and research about sustainable food systems:
Tiger Dining is a key financial and educational partner in the College of Agricultures 4-greenhouse aquaponic system that supports 11 graduate students research and services as a center-piece for conference and extension work. They also support work in two additional horticulture greenhouses that serve as on-campus teaching labs for vegetable production. In addition, Tiger Dining fully or partially supports the following activities: Community Garden; food tours for sustainability classes; food waste diversion projects (pre-cursor for plastics, methane production, composting) with the Biosystems Engineering program; and presenting at the Food Entrepreneur Conference focused on local food production and marketing.

Other Initiatives 

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor have other sustainability-related initiatives (e.g. health and wellness initiatives, making culturally diverse options available)?:
Yes

A brief description of the other sustainability-related dining initiatives:
Other sustainbability efforts of Tiger Dining include: working with various campus ethnic groups to serve traditional, authentic foods in on-campus dining venues; offering Halal Foods in dining halls & on food trucks; working with the Pharmacy School to host Healthy Tiger Lunch & Learns for employees that focus on well-balanced nutrition and educational talks related to personal wellbeing; and partnering with Health Promotion & Wellness Services to launch the Dining Nutrition Ambassadors program/student group, a student peer-to-peer, in-dining venue education program helping students understand the key aspects of well-balanced nutrition, particularly on-campus.

Part 2: Food and Dining Waste 

Food Recovery Program

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor participate in a competition or commitment program and/or use a food waste prevention system to track and improve its food management practices?:
Yes

A brief description of the food recovery competition or commitment program or food waste prevention system:
The on-campus provider uses their internal systems to monitor and track food waste volumes, and has company-wide goals to reduce food waste by 50% by 2030. In addition, the Campus Kitchens Project at Auburn University participates in the national organization by reporting its food recover numbers, community events, and attending national trainings.

Trayless Dining and Portion Modifications 

Has the institution or its primary dining services contractor implemented trayless dining (in which trays are removed from or not available in dining halls) and/or modified menus/portions to reduce post-consumer food waste?:
Yes

A brief description of the trayless dining or modified menu/portion program:
By standard practice, Auburn features tray-less dining.

Food Donation 

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor donate food that would otherwise go to waste to feed people?:
Yes

A brief description of the food donation program:
Tiger Dining works closely with the Campus Kitchens Project at Auburn University to capture food surplus for repackaging into complete meals and then donating to food insecure individuals in the Auburn, Opelika, and Tuskegee communities.

Food Materials Diversion 

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor divert food materials from the landfill, incinerator or sewer for animal feed or industrial uses (e.g. converting cooking oil to fuel, on-site anaerobic digestion)?:
Yes

A brief description of the food materials diversion program:
Tiger Dining diverts cooking oil from the landfill for conversion into bio-diesel. In addition, pilot programs with food waste diversion have been conducted.

Composting 

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor have a pre-consumer composting program?:
No

A brief description of the pre-consumer composting program:
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Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor have a post-consumer composting program?:
No

A brief description of the post-consumer composting program:
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Dine-In Service Ware 

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor utilize reusable service ware for “dine in” meals?:
Yes

A brief description of the reusable service ware program:
Tiger Catering offers reusable service ware as one of its options for catered events, and all dining halls feature reusable plates and utensils.

Take-Away Materials 

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor provide reusable and/or third party certified compostable containers and service ware for “to-go” meals (in conjunction with an on-site composting program)?:
No

A brief description of the compostable containers and service ware:
Reusable to-go containers have been purchased for use in the campus dining hall locations, but the full-scale program has not yet rolled out to the campus community. Also while Auburn has no standardized composting program, Tiger Dining operated venues provide all compostable and/or recyclable containers for to-go items. This effort is in anticipation of the development of a food-waste composting program for campus.

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor offer discounts or other incentives to customers who use reusable containers (e.g. mugs) instead of disposable or compostable containers in “to-go” food service operations?:
No

A brief description of the reusable container discount or incentives program:
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Other Materials Management Initiatives 

Has the institution or its primary dining services contractor implemented other materials management initiatives to minimize waste not covered above (e.g. working with vendors and other entities to reduce waste from food packaging)?:
Yes

A brief description of other dining services materials management initiatives:
Tiger Dining works with various food service providers on pallet & crate/bin re-use efforts.

Optional Fields 

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
https://auburn.campusdish.com/

Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.