Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 65.89
Liaison Allie Schwartz
Submission Date Aug. 29, 2018
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Columbia University
OP-7: Food and Beverage Purchasing

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.00 / 6.00 Bianca Tamburello
Dietician
Dining, Columbia University Facilities and Operations
"---" 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:
50

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):
24.70

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):

Columbia Dining purchases from the local greenmarket and numerous vendors within 250 miles of Columbia's Morningside Campus. 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. Chobani Yogurt is manufactured in Central New York. 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 Hall's 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


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):

Each vendor provides an annual report of purchases from the prior year; Dining's Executive Director analyzes data to delineate vendors and purchases that are sustainable & local. Columbia Dining specifically seeks out and requests local products from vendors.


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 No No
Student-run food/catering services No No
Franchises (e.g. national or global brands) No No
Convenience stores No No
Vending services Yes Yes
Concessions Yes Yes

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

Columbia supports the Harlem Small Business Initiative and Harlem Park to Park (HP2P), which is a social enterprise representing 100+ local entrepreneurs committed to cultural preservation, small business, and economic development in Central Harlem.


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.