Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 74.18
Liaison Allie Schwartz
Submission Date Nov. 30, 2012
Executive Letter Download

STARS v1.1

Columbia University
OP-6: Food and Beverage Purchasing

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 6.00 / 6.00 Kristie Koerner
Associate Manager & Registered Dietician
Dining
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Percentage of food expenditures that meet one or more of the criteria for this credit (0 - 100):
51.79

A brief description of the sustainable food and beverage purchasing program:

Columbia Dining purchases from the local greenmarket and numerous local vendors. Apples and fresh apple cider are purchased from Red Jacket Orchards in Geneva, New York. All milk is distributed by GAF Seelig and come locally from Clover Farms. Other items manufactured locally and distributed by GAF Seelig include creamer, butter, cage free eggs, Dannon, Chobani, Yoplait, and Fage yogurts, sour cream, cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, Philadelphia cream cheese, soy milk, whipped cream, fresh lemon and lime juices, fresh orange juice, Poland Spring bottled water, bottled Tropicana orange, lemonade, and apple juices, walnuts, and almonds. All cheeses are produced locally, such as Brie, Cheddar, Swiss, Provolone, Feta, Parmesan, Manchego, Havarti Dill, and American. All Coke products ($28,000 worth) are produced in the Bronx.
Purveyors provide locally grown fresh vegetables to both dining halls as well as retail units. Products include: cucumbers, green leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, Boston lettuce, red radishes, green, red and white cabbage, leeks, turnips, jalapeno and Serrano peppers, escarole, red bell peppers, red beets, carrots, portabella, shiitake, enoki, crimini, and button mushrooms, spaghetti squash, butternut squash, yellow squash, pumpkin, eggplant, collard greens, spinach, white and red potatoes, Swiss chard, green peppers, Italian peppers, green beans, corn, parsnips, sweet onions, zucchini, pico de gallo, salsa, and green peas. All tomatoes are provided by Thomas Colace Company, whose tomato vendors are all audited by Social Accountability. The tomatoes used to make the salsa are locally grown at Olds Maids Farm in South Glastonbury, CT and crafted by Onofrio’s of New Haven, CT.
Dining also contracts with a local farmer and canner to make salsa and strawberry jam. The strawberries are grown and harvested at Hindinger Farm in Hamden, CT, and processed, packaged and delivered by Onofrio’s of New Haven, CT. Coffee comes from Brooklyn Roasting Company and is fair trade, organic, shade grown, and bird friendly. All bakery and grab-and-go sandwiches are purchased from local vendors. From the green market, honey is bought from Ballard’s Honey that is based in Roxbury, New York. At John Jay Dining Halls’ annual “Local Dinner,” items such as Long Island Yukon Gold Potatoes, Mint, Bell Peppers, and Mushrooms, New York State Maple Syrup, and cheese from green market vendor Millport Dairy, based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, are served. Columbia Dining follows The Northeast guidelines of Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch for buying fish. The program provides science-based recommendations so that buyers can make ocean-friendly seafood choices. Dining buys “Best Choices” fish, meaning that they are abundant, well managed, and caught or farmed in environmentally friendly ways.

Additional URLs for local and organic food suppliers:
www.hindingersfarm.com
www.oldmaidsfarm.com
www.redjacketorchards.com
www.gafseelig.com
www.tomatobycolace.com
www.brooklynroasting.com
http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/sfw_recommendations.aspx?c=ln


The Website URL where information about the institution's sustainable food and beverage purchasing efforts is available:
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.