Boston University
OP-7: Low Impact Dining

The University’s Dining Services offers vegan meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner across campus each day. Each dining hall offers a vegan option for both breakfast, lunch and dinner. In addition, most meals can be prepared vegetarian upon request. "Mindful Meals" is a day each week when all residential dining halls serve foods with a lower carbon footprint. It's also an opportunity for education through station signs that discuss what makes each meal sustainable, posters, website and Facebook postings, and table tents. No beef or pork is served on these days and the focus is on local produce, sustainable seafood as well as more vegetarian and vegan options. On a daily basis, BU Dining Services also offer vegan pizzas, desserts, and deli sandwich options such as Beyond Meat chicken salad. Trainings are conducted with employees to educate them on veganism and vegetarianism, and also use separate cooking vessels and utensils for vegan foods.

Dining Services’ policy is to procure the most environmentally responsible products available that are economically feasible. Dairy is purchased from local companies that source from local dairy farms, which include Hood milk, Cabot Creamery sour cream, butter and cheese. The University’s Dining Services also supports the humane treatment of animals and as such, have converted all of the eggs on campus to cage-free (with the exception of EggBeaters and egg patties at Breadwinners, both of which are not available with cage-free eggs). Similarly, Dining services purchases sustainable seafood including farmed mussels and clams. Using the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch and the Marine Stewardship Council certification as guides to choosing sustainable seafood, some of the local, sustainable seafood offerings include farmed blue mussels, MSC-certified Pacific Cod, basa and Maine lobster.