Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 70.85
Liaison Laura Young
Submission Date Feb. 28, 2019
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Michigan State University
OP-7: Food and Beverage Purchasing

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.12 / 6.00 Mara Spears
Sustainability Program Coordinator
Office of the EVP for Administration
"---" 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:
2.17

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):
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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):
Residential and Hospitality Services use a procurement guide book that shares our mission for local / regional foods called the Sustainability Procurement Guide. This is a comprehensive overview of all of food purchasing choices, which take sustainability into account in regards to distance, providers, community support, and organic choices.

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):
Inventory of products was conducted by the consolidation of data sets including: Supplier requested information, internal product data, cross referenced and verified with internal purchase/sales actuals from the most recent complete fiscal year, 2018. Seasonal variation does not effect the representative sample because MSU internal accounting is in actuals accounts for the reduced consumption during summer months.

If uploading output from the Real Food Calculator, provide:

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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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 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) Yes Yes
Convenience stores Yes Yes
Vending services Yes Yes
Concessions Yes Yes

Optional Fields 

A brief description of purchased food and beverage products that have other sustainability attributes not recognized above :
Along with purchasing from the Student Organic Farm and Meatlab, MSU also has its own Dairy Store and Bakery, both of which use the majority of the milk in their treats from the MSU Dairy Farm. Additionally, a large portion of MSU food purchases come from companies with sustainability plans, strategies, efforts, and initiatives. While these companies do not meet AASHE's standards for local and community-based or Third-Party Verified, many of them have made significant progress in their reduction of greenhouse gases, energy efficiency, local farm partnerships, animal ethics, and adherence to certification standards. Two such companies have been highlighted in the inventory; Hormel and Country Fresh. While MSU does a significant amount of local purchasing for such a large university, it must also be noted that much of the university's food purchases are to distributors, and while they are not included on the inventory, many of these distributors are also working towards sustainable operations and distribution practices, including support of local farmers, scope 3 emission reductions, living wage pay for their workers, and energy efficiency practices and certifications. https://www.canr.msu.edu/resources/forward_contracting_webinar

Additional percentage of dining services food and beverage expenditures on conventional products with other sustainability attributes not recognized above (0-100) :
12.35

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:
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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.