Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 65.76
Liaison Allison Jenks
Submission Date Jan. 26, 2017
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

New Mexico State University
OP-7: Food and Beverage Purchasing

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.77 / 6.00 joni newcomer
Mgr. Env. Policy and Sustainability
Facilities and Services
"---" 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:
0

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):
18.50

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):

Sodexo, NMSU's campus dining provider, continuously implements a local food procurement program, where the unit focuses on purchasing local and university-produced food items such as locally made ice cream from the Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) "ACES in the Hole" academic food program and Bueno chile from a local food distributor. Taos Restaurant, NMSU's dining hall run by Sodexo, also offers Sodexo's fair trade and organic coffee brand Aspretto. Sodexo's campus dining hall, retail, concession and catering operations also purchase dairy, eggs, produce and meat from local providers whenever possible. As an overall sustainability impact, Sodexo strives to ensure that we maximize the amount of products from all food categories that our locally purchased, organic, and/or are fair trade certified.


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):

Throughout the fall semester, the executive chef and production manager examined food purchases from all procurement sources. During this time frame, inventory items with sustainability attributes were flagged and added to the sustainable food inventory. The one-month time frame is all Sodexo could provide and the executive chef and production manager were mindful of including food items that accounted for seasonal variation during the fall semester.


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

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

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 Yes Yes
Franchises (e.g. national or global brands) Yes Yes
Convenience stores Yes Yes
Vending services Yes Yes
Concessions Yes Yes

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

Sodexo purchases 15% of their food from local vendors. We are an agricultural community surrounded by chile and pecan farms as well as many other small agricultural farms that also sell their food and other products (goat cheese, jellies, honey, etc.). These farms are independently-owned within a 10-mile radius of the university and are all community members that have full autonomy and local decision-making authority with respect to their business practices.


Additional percentage of dining services food and beverage expenditures on conventional products with other sustainability attributes not recognized above (0-100) :
20

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:

Other links to Sodexo healthy choices:
https://nmsudining.sodexomyway.com/health/index.html

Sodexo environmental efforts:
http://tomorrowstarts2day.com/planet.html


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.