| Overall Rating | Gold - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 69.26 |
| Liaison | Gioia Thompson |
| Submission Date | March 1, 2017 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
University of Vermont
OP-7: Food and Beverage Purchasing
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
1.06 / 6.00 |
Melissa
Zelazny General Manager UVM Dining Services |
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:
Does the institution wish to pursue Part 2 of this credit (expenditures on conventional animal products)? (If data is not available, respond “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):
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):
The Real Food Working Group (RFWG) at UVM created a living document to guide procurement change decisions to increase UVM’s Real Food percentage. We target priority categories and top items by value in each category, taking into consideration which products might be most “offensive” and which might be possible to produce locally. We aim for improvement in each category every year. All recommendations for product changes that are projected to change UVM’s Real Food percentage by greater than .25% (in either direction) must be voted on. Other changes can be made by UVM Dining’s independent discretion. For more information on decision making process and long term goals, refer to the RFWG Charter and Multi-Year Action Plan.
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 audit the representative months of July 2015, October 2015 and February 2016, relying on interns to review purchase reports and categorize our food spending using the Real Food Challenge guidelines. These interns are hired by our multi-stakeholder Real Food Working Group and supervised by the UVM Dining Sustainability Manager. All UVM Dining (Sodexo) locations are audited, including their catering, convenience stores and concessions. An additional institution-operated convenience store as well as coffee shop are also included in this data to satisfy the STARS requirement of including institution-managed/operated locations.
Percentage of total dining services expenditures on Real Food A (0-100):
Percentage of total dining services expenditures on Real Food B (0-100):
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 | No |
| Franchises (e.g. national or global brands) | Yes | No |
| Convenience stores | Yes | Yes |
| Vending services | Yes | No |
| Concessions | Yes | Yes |
A brief description of purchased food and beverage products that have other sustainability attributes not recognized above :
23.8% of purchases by the same food service providers indicated above are considered local by the Vermont First and Vermont Farm to Plate definition. This definition includes any items grown or produced within the state of Vermont and a 30-mile radius around the state (regardless of ingredient origin). This percentage is not in addition to the Real Food A and Real Food B measurements, but reflect a separate result due to a different definition of local.
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:
This data was researched and completed by students with oversight from UVM Dining Sustainability Manager. This purchasing inventory export is of 2015-2016 Assessment Year Data and includes university owned and operated outlets (UVM Bookstore) in addition to primary contractor operated locations (UVM Dining direct operations). Months audited are July 2015, October 2015, February 2016. These results differ from UVM's published Real Food Challenge results for the same time period because UVM traditionally reports on UVM Dining only in those assessments. These results include the UVM Bookstore.
This data was researched and completed by students with oversight from UVM Dining Sustainability Manager. This purchasing inventory export is of 2015-2016 Assessment Year Data and includes university owned and operated outlets (UVM Bookstore) in addition to primary contractor operated locations (UVM Dining direct operations). Months audited are July 2015, October 2015, February 2016. These results differ from UVM's published Real Food Challenge results for the same time period because UVM traditionally reports on UVM Dining only in those assessments. These results include the UVM Bookstore.
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.