Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 74.27
Liaison Konrad Schlarbaum
Submission Date Feb. 15, 2018
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

University of Colorado Colorado Springs
OP-7: Food and Beverage Purchasing

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.33 / 6.00 Joel Bagley
Associate Director for Business Operations
Dining and Hospitality Services
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

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:
6.30

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):
33

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):

UCCS Dining and Hospitality Services is working to increase the amount of local, organic, and certified food products. This is being done through working with local farm hubs as well as with the Procurement Services Center for the CU system. This involves examining spending thresholds, balancing costs, and reconciling availability. The goal as stated in the Sustainability Strategic Plan is to increase the amount of local and organic sources by several percentage points each year.

Arkansas Valley organic Growers, AVOG supplies some of UCCS' eggs, meat, and produce. The university is still working with the Procurement Services Center to determine how best to procure local products and stay within the state purchasing rules and limitations.

Below are some of the categories, the distributors, and the descriptions with regard to sustainability.

Meat: Beef AspenRidge Farms - https://certifiedhumane.org/whos-certified/
Ranch Foods Direct - http://ranchfoodsdirect.com/ Restoring Beef Quality, Land Health and Rural Vitality. From our high quality grass pastures to our well-balanced natural finishing diets, Callicrate Cattle Co. is dedicated to providing the highest quality of life possible for our animals.

Poultry - Red Bird Farms antibiotic free chicken. It's raised cage free and without hormones or steroids. The chickens are healthy, safe, and clean. http://www.redbirdfarms.com/healthy-chicken1/

Sustainable Seafood: Seattle Fish Company: The first in the Rocky Mountain region, we’re certified by the Marine Stewardship Council as an official “chain of custody” supplier of seafood guaranteed as sustainable from catch to cook.

Sustainable Seafood - Sea to Table
https://www.sea2table.com/our-mission/

Cheese - Seattle Fish Company - sources from Colorado - Goat Cheese. https://www.seattlefish.com/seafood-market/colorado-goat-cheese/

UCCS also uses LoCo Foods for sourcing Colorado items. The ways food reaches consumers can vary; what we have developed here at LoCo Foods is streamlined local sourcing – offering Colorado retail establishments an easy way to purchase from over 150 local brands that are grown and/or processed within Colorado, and Colorado brands an easy way to reach wholesale buyers in the state.
https://www.locofooddistribution.com/


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 obtained an inventory of all items used in dining services for FY17, identified the purchases that met the sustainable requirements, and performed the necessary calculations for FY 2017. Total Food and Beverage spend was $2,332,055. Total Certified or Local and Community Based was $146,533, which equals 6.3%.


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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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 Yes Yes
Dining operations and catering services operated by a contractor Yes Yes
Student-run food/catering services Yes Yes
Franchises (e.g. national or global brands) No No
Convenience stores No No
Vending services Yes No
Concessions No No

A brief description of purchased food and beverage products that have other sustainability attributes not recognized above :

$42,201 was spent on products from local chocolatiers and bakers that does not fully meet the "both local and community-based" criteria (counted as other Sustainability attributes). There is nearly $100,000 more of spend that has sustainability attributes like being located in Colorado. However the categories for STARS and the Real Food Calculator are in our opinion too stringent, especially for western states like Colorado. We would like to see definitions such as local - 250 miles, regional 400 miles (USDA) and be allotted points accordingly.


Additional percentage of dining services food and beverage expenditures on conventional products with other sustainability attributes not recognized above (0-100) :
8

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.