Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 58.55
Liaison Amy Brunvand
Submission Date April 5, 2017
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

University of Utah
OP-7: Food and Beverage Purchasing

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.65 / 6.00 Alizabeth Potucek
Edible Campus Gardens Coordinator
Office of 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

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:
12.30

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):
---

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):
Chartwells Sustainability Coordinator This part-time student position manages existing sustainability programs such as Carbon Foodprint (water, waste and energy management software), Love Food Not Waste Campaign, as well as partners with groups including Real Food Challenge, Excess, Food Recovery Network, and the student food pantry. They work closely with U of U Dining Administration through frequent updates and are responsible for developing purchasing strategies that will enable U of U Dining reach 20% Real Food by 2020. Real Food Challenge Students from the Real Food Challenge are currently working with chefs and the Chartwells Sustainability Officer to coordinate an increase of purchasing for 'real' food products. http://sustainability.utah.edu/engagement/student-groups/real-food-challenge/ Compass Groups Sustainability Platform The Compass Group has published its vision and goals for sustainability, as well as metrics they are tracking. The document can be found here: https://new.dineoncampus.com/utah/our-sustainability-platform Locally Sourced Food University Dining Services purchases food from local companies, listed on the website. Some of these have a specific sustainability mission or offer sustainability food labeling. -Cafe Ibis (Logan, UT): Many of these coffees are 'triple certified' as organic, fair trade, and shade grown. -Millcreek Coffee Roasters (Salt Lake City, UT): Direct source coffee. -Pop Art (Salt Lake City, UT: Non-GMO, Gluten Free, vegan/vegetarian. -Probar (Salt Lake City, UT): Non-GMO, organic. -Wasatch Meats -Stone Ground Bakery - For a complete list to go: https://new.dineoncampus.com/utah/eat-local

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):
2015 Real Food Calculator The Real Food Calculator was run by a student intern of the Sustainability Office, with faculty member Adrienne Cachelin serving as project supervisor. 1,500 purchases from over 15 vendors were reviewed according to Real Food standards 1.1 (http://realfoodchallenge.org/sites/default/files/TheRealFoodStandardsPackage.pdf). The sample size represented approximately 35 percent of the annual operating budget for University Dining Services. Two samples were taken. Sample 1, during a 4-week spring sample period(February 1, 2015 – February 28, 2015) And Sample 2, a 4-week fall sample period (September 1, 2015 – September 30, 2015). The results were published summer of 2016. We have removed non-public information from the submitted spreadsheet based on contractual requirements. URL: https://sustainability.utah.edu/engagement/student-groups/real-food-challenge/

If uploading output from the Real Food Calculator, provide:

Percentage of total dining services expenditures on Real Food A (0-100):
2.30

Percentage of total dining services expenditures on Real Food B (0-100):
9.30

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) Yes No
Convenience stores Yes No
Vending services Yes No
Concessions Yes No

Optional Fields 

A brief description of purchased food and beverage products that have other sustainability attributes not recognized above :
Sustainability programs associated with campus food services include Food Recovery Network, Real Food Challenge, Carbon Foodprint, and Sustainability Scorecard.

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:
Real Food Standards Real Food Challenge was evaluated in 2015 according to standards described in "Real Foods Standards 1.1" NOTE: On the attached spreadsheet, products labeled "fair," "ecological" and "humane" are third-party certified. In the original calculation, products labeled "local" included some products that were not community based. The edited spreadsheet (attached) includes only products that are both local and community-based. Eliminating the Non-community-based foods changed the figure for Real Food B from 10% (as reported on the "Real Food Report, Summer 2016, attached) to 9.3%. http://realfoodchallenge.org/sites/default/files/TheRealFoodStandardsPackage.pdf Additional Information: 2015 Sustainability Scorecard (Compass Group) Lists items that meet the specific criteria of Compass Group's sustainability initiatives as a percent of total purchases for that category. The data are at the company level and not specific to the University of Utah: 89% Seafood Watch Criteria; 90% fBGH free milk; 77%rBGH free yogurt; 76% reduced antibiotic chicken; 82% reduced antibiotic turkey; 54% cage-free eggs; 11.3% local produce; 50% Eco/Fair Trade certified coffee. URL: https://new.dineoncampus.com/utah/sustainability-programs 'Real food’: University of Utah commits to a dining-hall overhaul. Annie Knox, The Salt Lake Tribune, Jun 09 2015. URL: sltrib.com/news/2592907-155/real-food-u-commitsto-a-dining-hall

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.