| Overall Rating | Gold - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 81.34 |
| Liaison | Mary Whitney |
| Submission Date | Nov. 26, 2018 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
Chatham University
OP-7: Food and Beverage Purchasing
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
1.85 / 6.00 |
Mary
Whitney University Sustainability Coordinator Office of Sustainability |
Percentage of dining services food and beverage expenditures on products that are third party verified under one or more recognized food and beverage sustainability standards or Local & Community-Based:
Does the institution wish to pursue Part 2 of this credit (expenditures on conventional animal products)? (If data is not available, respond “No”):
Percentage of total dining services food and beverage expenditures on conventional animal products (meat, poultry, fish/seafood, eggs, and dairy products that do NOT qualify in either the Third Party Verified or Local & Community-Based category):
A brief description of the sustainable food and beverage purchasing program, including how the sustainability impacts of products in specific categories are addressed (e.g. meat, poultry, fish/seafood, eggs, dairy, produce, tea/coffee):
Chatham University’s food is provided by Parkhurst Dining Services, a member of the Eat N’ Park Hospitality Group. In 2002, Parkhurst launched FarmSource as a part of their Ecosteps program. The aim of the FarmSource program is to source more than 20% of all food locally, and the program has the assistance from organizations like Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture. Parkhurst defines locally in the following ways:
- Produce is sourced within 150 miles from local distributors.
- Dairy products sourced within 150 miles and produced by independent farmers that do not use recombinant bovine somatotropin hormone (rBST)
- Meat products are sourced within 400 miles.
- Eggs are cage-free from Ohio (150 miles away)
- Artisan - FarmSource artisan producers are 150 miles from our location. These companies range from the hearth-baked bread company to the potato chip or cookie manufacturer.
Sustainable products represent products that fall into the following categories:
- ABF (Poultry) - Antibiotic Free produced chicken.
- rBST Free (Dairy) - No hormones are used in the production of dairy products. All of the fluid milk purchases from our dairy distributors that delivery direct are not included in this calculation.
- ABF / Hormone Free (Beef) - Antibiotic and Hormone Free produced beef cattle.
- Gestation Crate Free (Pork) - Gestation crates are not used to confine breeding pigs.
- Cage-Free (Eggs) – Egg-laying hens are not confined in battery cages.
- FairTrade Certified - A trading certification, based on dialogue, transparency, and respect, that seeks greater equity in international trade of food.
- Rainforest Alliance - a non-governmental organization (NGO) working to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming land-use practices, business practices, and consumer behavior.
- USDA Organic – Organic products have been 3rd party audited and certified to use the USDA and allowed to use organic labeling.
An inventory of the institution’s sustainable food and beverage purchases that includes for each product: the description/type; label, brand or producer; and the category in which it is being counted and/or a description of its sustainability attribute(s):
A brief description of the methodology used to conduct the inventory, including the timeframe and how representative samples accounted for seasonal variation (if applicable):
An annual report is prepared by Parkhurst's Dining Services sustainability director, Jamie Moore, with a complete inventory of our annual purchases, separated by product types and sustainable sources.
The Know Your Source document is presorted to remove any products that do not meet the standards listed below.
-Company is a privately or cooperatively owned enterprise
-Company or cooperative must gross $50 million/year or less
-All processing and distribution facilities must be within a 250 mile radius of the institution.
The only tab that does not preremove products that do not fit this criteria is the last tab in the document, "US Foods (3)", which includes conventional meat products. The conventional meat products are the unhighlighted products and are taken into account for our calculation of Part 2 of this credit.
Percentage of total dining services expenditures on Real Food A (0-100):
Percentage of total dining services expenditures on Real Food B (0-100):
Which of the following food service providers are present on campus and included in the total food and beverage expenditure figures?:
| Present? | Included? | |
| Dining operations and catering services operated by the institution | No | No |
| Dining operations and catering services operated by a contractor | Yes | Yes |
| Student-run food/catering services | No | No |
| Franchises (e.g. national or global brands) | No | No |
| Convenience stores | No | No |
| Vending services | Yes | No |
| Concessions | No | No |
A brief description of purchased food and beverage products that have other sustainability attributes not recognized above :
Chatham University prioritizes supporting local, small and women or minority owned businesses, as described in our sustainable procurement policies. The products represented by the percentage below are from local businesses, but not considered local according to the Real Food Challenge, and therefore, are not accounted for under local/verified category in Part 1 and Part 2 of this credit. This is calculated in detail further in the STARS tab in the attached spreadsheet.
Additional percentage of dining services food and beverage expenditures on conventional products with other sustainability attributes not recognized above (0-100) :
The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Vending machines are operated by Dining Services.
Vending machines are operated by Dining Services.
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.