Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 58.49
Liaison Richard Johnson
Submission Date Nov. 11, 2014
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

Rice University
OP-7: Low Impact Dining

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 3.00 Richard Johnson
Director of Sustainability
Facilities Engineering and Planning
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

None
Percentage of total dining services food purchases comprised of conventionally produced animal products:
32.60

None
A brief description of the methodology used to track/inventory expenditures on animal products:
All purchases go through the Housing and Dining office which sets the standards for all purchases. David McDonald, who is the head of Housing and Dining, makes sure that all animals are humane-verified as well as USDA certified if possible. Animal products that are purchased locally are not USDA certified but are instead considered locally grown.

None
Does the institution offer diverse, complete-protein vegan dining options at all meals in at least one dining facility on campus?:
Yes

None
Does the institution provide labels and/or signage that distinguishes between vegan, vegetarian (not vegan), and other items?:
Yes

None
Are the vegan options accessible to all members of the campus community?:
Yes

None
A brief description of the vegan dining program, including availability, sample menus, signage and any promotional activities (e.g. “Meatless Mondays”):
Vegetarian and vegan entrees are available at every meal and the entire dining operation is trans-fat free. Over 90 percent of the food served in the campus dining halls is made from scratch on-site. Menus can be found at http://dining.rice.edu/

None
A brief description of other efforts the institution has made to reduce the impact of its animal-derived food purchases:
Housing and Dining has made a large push to include more alternative protein sources. Some of these include legumes, beans, Swiss shard and roots. In addition, tofu, soy milk and other soy based products are offered at all meals. Most of the yogurt is gelatin-free making it vegetarian and further reducing animal-derived products.

The website URL where information about the vegan dining program is available:
None
Annual dining services expenditures on food:
4,600,000 US/Canadian $

None
Annual dining services expenditures on conventionally produced animal products:
1,500,000 US/Canadian $

None
Annual dining services expenditures on sustainably produced animal products:
300,000 US/Canadian $

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
---

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.