| Overall Rating | Gold - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 78.50 |
| Liaison | Marina Zdobnova |
| Submission Date | Aug. 16, 2018 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
University of California, Berkeley
OP-7: Food and Beverage Purchasing
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
2.15 / 6.00 |
Jack
Chang STARS Assessment Fellow (ERG) Sustainability |
"---"
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
21.45
Part 2
Animal Products
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):
14.77
Food and Beverage Purchasing Inventory
Required if pursuing either part of the credit:
Cal Dining is committed to serving food at the intersection of delicious, nutritious and sustainable. In addition to focusing on plant-forward cooking, we prioritize using ingredients that are locally grown, humanely treated and environmentally and socially responsible. By reducing the portion of animal products, we have been able to source more humane certified animal products. The majority of the chicken, pork, beef, milk, turkey and eggs are certified by a third party for humane practices. We serve seafood daily and only purchase seafood listed on the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch Good Alternative or Best Choice List. We purchase only fair trade coffee blends from Peet's for all drip coffee served on campus in addition to fair trade tea options. We work with our produce suppliers to procure as much local produce as possible and have direct farm relationships with two local farms and one cattle rancher. We purchase organic produce whenever possible. Brown's California Cafe, a campus restaurant dedicated to showcasing sustainability, serves only organic produce. Ninety percent of the ingredients used at this location are locally grown or verified by a third party for sustainable practices.
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):
We reviewed all the purchases from the 2017-2018 fiscal year and categorized them based on their third-party certifications, production methods and growing location. The analysis was completed by Samantha Lubow, Environment Initiatives Coordinator at Cal Dining. We asked for monthly purchase reports from our produce distributor to account for seasonality.
If uploading output from the Real Food Calculator, provide:
---
Percentage of total dining services expenditures on Real Food B (0-100):
---
Required if pursuing either part of the credit:
| Present? | Included? | |
| Dining operations and catering services operated by the institution | Yes | Yes |
| Dining operations and catering services operated by a contractor | No | No |
| Student-run food/catering services | No | No |
| Franchises (e.g. national or global brands) | No | No |
| Convenience stores | Yes | Yes |
| Vending services | Yes | No |
| Concessions | Yes | Yes |
Optional Fields
UC Berkeley uses equivalent programs to most of the certifications listed above. The following is an explanation for how UC Berkeley settled on the alternatives to the certification programs:
UC Berkeley is able to recover significantly more food through Copia than it can through the Food Recovery Network. Copia is not currently operating nationally.
The Alameda County Green Business Certification offers a similar program to the Green Restaurant Association (GRA) at no cost. The University of California Office of the President had decided Alameda County's program could be considered equivalent to GRA so we do not pursue GRA. Alameda County's program also covers green cleaning products as Green Seal does.
UC Berkeley chose the the Monterey Bay Aquarium (MBA) Seafood Watch Business Partner over the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) because MBA does not charge the fisheries to be certified. MSC certification adds an addition cost onto the fisherman.
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:
The majority of the animal products served at UC Berkeley are humane certified, which is why the resulting number is so low. The information in this field was provided by Cal Dining services.
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.