| Overall Rating | Gold - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 66.93 |
| Liaison | Kelly Wellman |
| Submission Date | Dec. 20, 2016 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
Texas A&M University
OP-7: Food and Beverage Purchasing
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
1.04 / 6.00 |
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:
Does the institution wish to pursue Part 2 of this credit (expenditures on conventional animal products)? (If data is not available, respond “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):
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):
We believe that the health of our eco-system is directly connected to the health of our communities and people who live in them. Acting responsibly is part of our company DNA and we are committed to offering foods that are earth, body and community friendly. In support of that position, we are committed to the following initiatives
1. Buy Local: Supporting the preservation of the American family farm, reducing the carbon foot print of our supply chain and giving back to the local communities are central to our core values. In collaboration with our partners at the Institute for Agricultural Trade policy, we are seeking to reduce our dependence on factory farming and to partner with qualified local and regional growers to encourage our units to develop relationships with local farms whenever possible. Our goal is to develop partnerships with 2013 American family farms by 2013.
2. Sustainable Oceans: Compass Group is committed to protecting the threatened global fish supply. In collaboration with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program we established a landmark purchasing policy in 2006 that removes unsustainable wild and farmed seafood from our menus. We are working diligently to engage the salmon, shrimp and tilapia aquaculture industry to implement sustainable methods of production using open and frequent dialog paired with specific goals and timelines. Our goal is to remove 500,000 lbs of unsustainable farmed seafood over a 3 year period ending 2013.
3. Certified Humane/Cage Free Eggs: Because of our commitment to the humane care of farm animals, we offer only HFAC certified Cage Free shell eggs* nationwide.
4. Poultry produced without the routine use of human antibiotics: The non-therapeutic use of antibiotics in animal production is a growing public health concern because it decreases the effectiveness of antibiotics to treat diseases in humans. Therefore, we only serve chicken* and turkey* that has been produced with restricted use of these drugs, especially as a growth additive in feed. Our contracted suppliers are required to provide products which adhere to specific criteria developed in partnership with The Environmental Defense Fund.
5. rBGH Free Yogurt and Milk: Science and experience has clearly demonstrated that the use of artificial bovine growth hormones in dairy cows is detrimental to the well-being of the animal. The medical community has expressed apprehension that the use of these hormones may also be harmful to human health. Due to these concerns, we serve only fresh fluid milk* and fresh yogurt from cows that have been certified to be free of the artificial growth hormones rBGH/rBST.
8. Social and ecological certified coffee: Coffee production can have a tremendous impact on the social or environmental well being of the countries where it is produced. Responsible production methods are certified in a variety of ways including Fair Trade, Rainforest Alliance, Shade Grown and Organic. We encourage our units to offer a responsible choice based on client and guest preference and availability from the coffee partner.
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):
Our current inventory represents our purchasing data for the last academic school year (August 2015-May 2016) for Texas A&M. We obtained our raw purchasing data from our FoodBuy partners and implemented a tracking program in excel that uses a color coding system. For example: Green would indicate our non food related purchases that would not apply to our STARS percentages calculations, red would indicate that the purchase did not meet STARS criteria, and blue would indicate that the purchase had met the STARS criteria. After the system was complete, we created the inventory that is now attached to our submission.
Percentage of total dining services expenditures on Real Food A (0-100):
Percentage of total dining services expenditures on Real Food B (0-100):
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 | No | No |
| Concessions | No | No |
A brief description of purchased food and beverage products that have other sustainability attributes not recognized above :
We have purchased thousands of dollars worth of product from B corporations and from companies whose products are certified by the NON GMO project. Since we are not awarded points on these attributes, we did not allocate the time to calculate the percentages for those items.
Additional percentage of dining services food and beverage expenditures on conventional products with other sustainability attributes not recognized above (0-100) :
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:
Information for this section was supplied by Chartwells, a third-party contractor for Texas A&M University Dining.
Information for this section was supplied by Chartwells, a third-party contractor for Texas A&M University Dining.
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.