Seattle University
OP-7: Low Impact Dining

Bon Appétit provides a wide variety of vegan items at every café at every meal period on every day, including many rotating specials. Vegan items are clearly labeled, and alternatives made available almost every food station in the dining area. The Byte, the library cafe, offers only vegetarian/vegan food options. We do not currently offer any strictly vegan promotions, but we hold an annual event called Low Carbon Diet Day (LCD). LCD educates our customers on the impact of food on climate change, especially beef and dairy. On that day we eliminate beef from our menus. When customers order a hamburger, for instance, they are told that we are not offering them on that day and why. They are then sold an alternative item (black bean burger, etc.) On Mondays, the hot food station inside of the cafeteria offer and promote their 'Meatless Mondays' option.

When Bon Appétit started the Low Carbon Diet program in 2007, it was with specific targets in mind for how much carbon emissions we wanted to reduce over five years. The goal of reductions of the equivalent of approximately 5 million pounds of carbon dioxide each month has been made. In coming up with dining options, the catering service focuses on these four areas: --Serving reasonable, clearly defined portions of animal proteins based on U.S. Dietary Guidelines recommendations --Skewing the menu mix away from beef and cheese --Emphasizing plant-based proteins --Tracking the ounces of various proteins we serve per guest per meal period, to make sure we stay on target When purchasing meats, focus is put on: --No air-freighted seafood --Purchasing meat from North American farms and ranches (fed with U.S.-grown crops) --Serve tuna that comes with a signed statement that no fish aggregating device (FAD) was used. --All ground beef served in Bon Appétit cafés should be sourced from suppliers that have met the strict standards of one of four independent animal-welfare organizations. --Requiring that the pork BA serves be produced without gestation crate confinement systems, using higher-welfare group housing systems instead. --Switching pre-cracked (liquid) eggs from hens confined in barren battery cages to hens living in cage-free farms, as we already do for shell eggs