| Overall Rating | Silver - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 52.40 |
| Liaison | Andy Mitchell |
| Submission Date | Sept. 11, 2014 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
University of Illinois Chicago
OP-6: Food and Beverage Purchasing
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
0.41 / 4.00 |
Cynthia
Klein-Banai Associate Chancellor for Sustainability Office of Sustainability |
Percentage of dining services food and beverage expenditures that are local and community-based and/or third party verified:
A copy of an inventory, list or sample of sustainable food and beverage purchases:
An inventory, list or sample of sustainable food and beverage purchases:
Serving Seafood that Comes from Sustainable Sources: We are 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.
Featuring Socially and Ecologically Certified Coffee: All of our Farmer Bros. coffees featured in our all-you-care-to-eat dining locations are Rainforest Alliance Certified. Farmer Bros. as a vendor does a great deal in terms of sustainability including waste reduction, fuel reduction, water reduction, and energy reduction. They are LEED silver certified. Additionally, they are industry leaders in stewardship through local and community based philanthropy with Ronald McDonald House Charities, Feeding America, Coffee Kids, and Mercy Corps.
We serve only fresh local fluid milk from Prairie Dairy in Rockford IL, and fresh yogurt from cows that have been certified to be free of the artificial growth hormones rBGH/rBST.
We currently offer shelled and whole liquid eggs that are certified by the HFAC program in partnership with the Humane Society of America to be cage free.
We only serve chicken and turkey that have been produced with restricted use of these drugs, especially as a growth additive in feed. Our contracted suppliers are required to provide products that adhere to criteria developed in partnership with The Environmental Defense Fund.
In collaboration with our partners at the Institute for Agriculture and 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. We define “local” as typically within a 250-mile radius of the producing facility.
Our primary local vendor, Midwest Foods support farms in Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Ohio and provide the majority of our local produce. UIC Dining Services strives to provide local products in all of our facilities whenever feasible.
Examples of Local Vendors we use include:
Midwest Foods
Meats by Linz
Supreme Lobster
Alpha Baking
Chicago Sweet Connections
Poppies Dough
Does the institution wish to pursue Part 2 of this credit (food and beverage expenditures for on-site franchises, convenience stores, vending services, or concessions)?:
Percentage of on-site franchise, convenience store, vending services, and concessions food and beverage purchases that are local and community-based and/or third party verified:
A copy of an inventory, list or sample of on-site franchise, convenience store, vending machine, and/or concessions food and beverage purchases that are sustainably produced:
An inventory, list or sample of on-site franchise, convenience store, vending machine, and/or concessions food and beverage purchases that are sustainably produced:
A brief description of the sustainable food and beverage purchasing program:
UIC is aware of the impact our food and beverage purchasing program has on the communities in which we do business and on the environment. We are proud of our collective efforts to make this world a better place. This program strives and continue to be sustainable by serving seafood that comes from sustainable sources, featuring socially and ecologically certified coffee, providign fresh yogurt and milk that is free of artificial growth hormones, promoting certified humane cage-free eggs, purchasing poultry produced without the routine use of human antibiotics, and buying local prodcust to support family farming.
A brief description of the methodology used to track/inventory sustainable food and beverage purchases:
Foodbuy is the purchasing arm of Compass, they handle QA, as well as sourcing, tracking, and monitoring vendors. We are set up to do the majority of our purchasing through Foodbuy for tracking/inventory purposes. Additionally, in-house we record all of our monthly invoices, using separate data files to isolate invoices from local and other sustainable sources in an effort to ensure we are correctly reporting our sustainable food and beverage purchasing.
Total annual food and beverage expenditures:
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 |
| Franchises | Yes | No |
| Convenience stores | Yes | No |
| Vending services | Yes | No |
| Concessions | No | No |
Has the institution achieved the following?:
| Yes or No | |
| Fair Trade Campus, College or University status | No |
| Certification under the Green Seal Standard for Restaurants and Food Services (GS-46) | No |
| Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification | No |
| Signatory of the Real Food Campus Commitment (U.S.) | No |
A brief description of other sustainable restaurant and food service standards that the institution’s dining services operations are certified under:
The website URL where information about the institution's sustainable food and beverage purchasing efforts is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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.