Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 55.78
Liaison Jennifer McLaughlin
Submission Date Dec. 9, 2019
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

South Dakota State University
OP-7: Food and Beverage Purchasing

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.57 / 6.00 Jennifer McLaughlin
Sustainability Intern
Facilities and 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:
10.81

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”):
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):
32.72

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):
1. Aramark collaborates with produce vendors to source local foods from within 250 miles of campus 2. All coffee products purchased for Larson Commons and Java City are Fair Trade, Rainforest Alliance certified, organic or a combination of two or more of these categories. 3. All eggs served on campus are cage-free. 4. Aramark partnered with South Dakota State University to sell SDSU ice cream, cheese, and meat.

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):
All food purchases are totaled from invoices for our dining locations and classified as to whether they are sustainable or conventional using AASHE STARS 2.1.3 list of applicable third-party verified products or products that are both local and community-based (using STARS 2.1.3 definitions). The inventory of products is entered into the Farmlogix, and the percentage of STARS-applicable sustainable purchases is calculated from the total food and beverage spend. In calculating the percentage, products are counted as sustainable if they meet either one or more of the approved third-party verified criteria or are both local and community-based. Any product that meets neither an approved third-party verified criteria nor is both local and community-based is considered conventional and used only to determine total spend, not sustainable spend. Farmlogix did not have an option to sort out local products. Consequently, food/beverages we purchase from the Dairy Bar and Meat Lab (considered local) were included in the percentage of sustainable purchases even though it is not present in the graphs or in the “sustainable food” dollar amount presented in the inventory list generated by Farmlogix.

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 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 Yes Yes
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 :
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Additional percentage of dining services food and beverage expenditures on conventional products with other sustainability attributes not recognized above (0-100) :
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The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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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.