Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 57.98
Liaison Jay Price
Submission Date March 6, 2020
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

University of Tennessee at Knoxville
OP-7: Food and Beverage Purchasing

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.15 / 6.00 Jay Price
Sustainability Manager
Facilities Services
"---" 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

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:
2.90

Part 2

Animal Products 

Does the institution wish to pursue Part 2 of this credit (expenditures on conventional animal products)? (If data is not available, respond “No”):
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):
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Food and Beverage Purchasing Inventory

Required if pursuing either part of the credit:

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):
At this time, UT does not have a sustainable food and beverage purchasing program. Aramark is the food service supplier for the University of Tennessee. Many purchases are made from publicly traded and geographically dispersed producers. However, some purchases are considered local, sourced within a 250 miles radius of Sysco Knoxville. Current Vol Dining sustainability initiatives focus on local purchasing, recycling, composting, the Mug Project, trayless dining, food donation, reusable condiment containers and dishware, fryer oil recycling, and more. This inventory does not include the franchises on campus, which may have more sustainable purchases, such as Fair Trade coffee at the Starbucks locations.

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):
Local_and_Sustainable_Purchasing_FL_12_1_1.pdf

A brief description of the methodology used to conduct the inventory, including the timeframe and how representative samples accounted for seasonal variation (if applicable):
The report attached is from FarmLogix who partners with Aramark to track their sustainable spending. It only tracks purchases made through Sysco, not any regional spend from purchasing from local companies.

If uploading output from the Real Food Calculator, provide:

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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Required if pursuing either part of the credit:

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) No No
Convenience stores No No
Vending services No No
Concessions Yes
+ Date Revised: Oct. 5, 2021
No

Optional Fields 

A brief description of purchased food and beverage products that have other sustainability attributes not recognized above :
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Additional percentage of dining services food and beverage expenditures on conventional products with other sustainability attributes not recognized above (0-100) :
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The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
http://dining.utk.edu/sustainability/what-were-doing/

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.