Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 72.19
Liaison John Pumilio
Submission Date Aug. 11, 2017
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Colgate University
OP-7: Food and Beverage Purchasing

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.16 / 6.00
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

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:
28.10

Does the institution wish to pursue Part 2 of this credit (expenditures on conventional animal products)? (If data is not available, respond “No”):
Yes

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):
20

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):

Colgate University uniquely defines its food as local and sustainable if the food is coming from within a 250 mile radius around the school, mainly from one of the six counties surrounding Colgate. Within Colgate’s dining program, Chartwells seeks to reduce our dependence on factory farming and to partner with qualified local and regional growers and develop relationships with local farms whenever possible. This is achieved through partnering with over 50 local farms and companies. Through these partnerships Colgate’s dining halls aquice locally-sourced produce, meats, dairy, and baked goods equating to 28.1% local and or 3rd party certified food and beverage items.


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):

Chartwells works with Colgate University's Office of Sustainability to establish vendors for particular products. Once a product is determined to be incorporated into the dining program, a vendor and/or distributor is determined to be the primary source for that product. In some cases, a backup vendor is established in the event the primary vendor is unable to provide that product in a given week. Local, community-based and/or third-party certified vendors are identified in our accounting system and tracked in our financial ledgers. Colgate University Dining Services provide monthly reports on total food service expenditures (excluding non-food purchases such as cleaning supplies, labor and paper products) and percentages of Local and Community-based and Third-Party Certified expenditures. The report also breaks down Local and Community-based and Third-Party Certified purchases into four tiers: Local and Community-based within a 6 county region, Local and Community-based within a 250-mile radius, Third-Party Certified within a 250-mile radius and Third-Party Certified. A priority has been made on non-seasonal items to incorporate into the dining services in an effort to increase the local and/or sustainable percentage of food served on campus as well as identifying more seasonal vendors in season.


Percentage of total dining services expenditures on Real Food A (0-100):
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Percentage of total dining services expenditures on Real Food B (0-100):
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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 Yes Yes
Dining operations and catering services operated by a contractor Yes Yes
Student-run food/catering services Yes No
Franchises (e.g. national or global brands) No No
Convenience stores Yes Yes
Vending services Yes No
Concessions Yes Yes

A brief description of purchased food and beverage products that have other sustainability attributes not recognized above :

Chartwells adopts the Principles of Healthy, Sustainable Menus developed in partnership by the CIA and Harvard School of Public Health. These principles focus on engineering menus to create a more sustainable food supply, provide delicious, nutrient dense meals for our guests and protect and improve the health of our planet. Chartwells also purchases sustainable seafood based on the Monterey Bay Seafood Watch List. Seafood purchased under these criteria ensures an ongoing strong supply of seafood and the health our oceans. Chartwells serves only fresh fluid milk and fresh yogurt from cows that have been certified to be free of the artificial growth hormones rBGH/rBST. In addition, Colgate offers only Humane Farm Animal Care (HFAC) certified cage-free eggs as well as poultry produced without the routine use of human antibiotics. Contracted suppliers are required to provide products that adhere to criteria developed in partnership with The Environmental Defense Fund.


Additional percentage of dining services food and beverage expenditures on conventional products with other sustainability attributes not recognized above (0-100) :
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The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
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.