Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 61.25
Liaison Audrey McSain
Submission Date Feb. 28, 2020
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Lehigh University
OP-7: Food and Beverage Purchasing

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.79 / 6.00 Bruce Christine
GM
Dining Services
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

This credit requires:

  • A completed STARS Food and Beverage Purchasing Inventory
  • An itemized inventory based on output from the Real Food Calculator, or
  • An alternative inventory that includes for each product:
    • Product vendor
    • Product label/brand
    • Product description
    • The category in which the product qualifies (Third Party Verified or Local & Community Based)
    • Information justifying inclusion: the standards met if the product is third party verified; ownership, size, distance, production methods for Local & Community Based products 

Part 1

Third Party Verified and Community Based Products

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:
15

Part 2

Animal Products 

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

Food and Beverage Purchasing Inventory

Required if pursuing either part of the credit:

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):
With 23 cost centers across campus, we purchase local, organic or sustainably sourced food and beverage when possible based on seasonality, availability and customer demand. For example: - Fish is MSC Certified with blue eco label - Milk and ice cream is local - Produce is local when in season - Eggs are 100% cage free local and shelled eggs are local in resident dining - Various meats (ground turkey, dark meat chicken, etc.) are purchased locally when possible Real Food Challenge guidelines verify and guide purchasing choices We offer an on-site Dietitian for nutritional analysis and labeling of food/beverage products along with health information sessions/individual appointments.

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):
We are using the Real Food Challenge Calculator to track our food purchasing. We used Sodexo Purchasing Division Database for Lehigh University Dining for 2 months of the year 2018-2019, of 2 of our most representative dining centers. To account for seasonal variation, the months of research were October 2017 & February 2018.

If uploading output from the Real Food Calculator, provide:

Percentage of total dining services expenditures on Real Food A (0-100):
1

Percentage of total dining services expenditures on Real Food B (0-100):
14

Required if pursuing either part of the credit:

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) Yes Yes
Convenience stores No No
Vending services Yes No
Concessions Yes Yes

Optional Fields 

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

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:
Based on the tools available to us and track our success, we estimate the above are accurate

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.