University of Maryland, Baltimore County
OP-8: Sustainable Dining

UMBC Dining partnered with Just Food UMBC to serve locally sourced stir fry featuring fresh veggies and chicken from Locus Point Farm - Elkton, MD, Gehman Family Farm – Teleford, PA, Eagle Road Produce – Quarryville, PA and Butter Valley Harvest – Bally, PA along with honey graham and strawberry flavored local ice creams from Taharka Brothers based in Baltimore.

UMBC Dining's published purchasing initiatives states: "encourage responsible and sustainable practices in our supply chains. Our purchasing initiatives provide food choices which celebrate flavor, affirm cultural traditions and support local communities, and include local purchasing, fair trade coffee and sustainable seafood programs."

UMBC Dining offers Plant-forward menus. The production and consumption of animal-based foods are another leading cause of rising greenhouse gas emissions, so to combat this one, we have reduced our red meat offerings and now provide plenty of plant-based protein alternatives. Animal agriculture is responsible for about 18% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions and uses over a third of all raw materials and fossil fuels in the United States. Decreasing consumption of foods produced through animal agriculture and replacing them with plant-based foods can help reduce the harm done to our planet.

UMBC Dining - Supporting Vegan & Vegetarian Diets on Campus

a) Vegan and vegetarian options can be prepared separately on separate grill tops or in separate pans.
b) a variety of beans and soy products, such as tofu, are available daily on the menu cycle.

c) Peanut butter is available at every meal.

d)The salad bars at True Grit’s and Wild Green in the Commons feature a variety of legumes including various beans, peas, and edamame.

e) Olive oil and vinegar are always available.

f) Vegan and vegetarian options are labeled in True Grit’s, Fresh Fusions, and Outtakes.

g)Specialty vegan foods, soy milk, and protein options are available at True Grit’s My Pantry refrigerator.

To view campus menu options please visit: https://dineoncampus.com/UMBC/vegan-and-vegetarian-dining

Dining halls display signage and informational materials related to sustainability. The most recent example was the "Skip the Straw" campaign aimed at reducing plastic waste. The campaign that encourages the community to pass on plastic straws. In the US alone, 500 million straws are used every day, and because they often end up in the ocean, they contribute to the global marine pollution crisis—a problem which has extremely harmful and even deadly effects on marine life. While we can proudly say that True Grit’s Dining Hall has been skipping plastic straws and trays since 2008, we want to go even further. We would like to encourage our UMBC peers to #SkiptheStraw as much as they can to help us reduce our plastic waste.

Sustainable Seafood
October is National Seafood Month, and a great time to celebrate the fact that the United States is recognized as a global leader in sustainable seafood – both wild-caught and farmed. Seafood is caught sustainably when the population of that species of fish is managed in a way that provides for today’s needs without damaging the ability of the species to reproduce and be available for future generations. Sustainable seafood is the most environmentally efficient source of protein on the planet.

Seafood is a complete protein source. A 3-ounce serving of most fish and shellfish provides about 30-40% of the average daily recommended amount of protein.
It is an important part of our diets because it is a lean protein and contains omega-3 fats, B vitamins, vitamin D, zinc, selenium, iodine, and iron.


Compass Group has partnered with the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch Program to ensure we are purchasing and serving the most sustainable and ethically caught seafood. Overfishing is a major factor that can cause the depletion of various species, and that’s why we partner with companies that don’t cause unintentional harm towards other marine life that they aren’t fishing for.

UMBC has been trayless since the early 2010's.

Since the fall of 2013, UMBC dining has been partnered with UMBC’s Food Recovery Network to reduce our waste by distributing leftovers to those in the community. Additionally UMBC Dining partners with the campus Food Pantry.

Single-use cups are not typically recyclable, meaning most of them end up in landfills—one of the leading causes of greenhouse gas emissions. The ones that don’t make it to landfills tend to wind up in our oceans, which adds to our global marine pollution crisis. To try to combat these issues and keep waste out of both landfills and the ocean, we have replaced our standard plastic-lined paper cups with compostable ones. They are made with fully renewable sources including fiber from sustainably renewable resources and Ingeo™, a plant-based material (PLA). The cups can be disposed of in the designated composting bins found across campus.

Food prep wastes are diverted to compost.

There are post-consumer compost collection bins at all dining areas. Additionally, post-consumer composting is available, upon request, at special campus events.

Reusable service ware is utilized for dine in meals at our main campus dining hall.

UMBC offers discounts at the register for refilling your own coffee mug on campus.

UMBC dining offers freshly prepared Kosher and Halal meals. We also provide a Kosher Passover Program and Ramadan Meal Kit.