Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 70.87
Liaison Daimon Eklund
Submission Date Dec. 23, 2021

STARS v2.2

University of Washington, Seattle
OP-7: Food and Beverage Purchasing

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.33 / 6.00 Amy Leyzerovsky
Purchasing Specialist
HFS Dining
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Percentage of total annual food and beverage expenditures on products that are sustainably or ethically produced:
4.60

Percentage of total annual food and beverage expenditures on plant-based foods:
35.11

An inventory of food and beverage purchases that qualify as sustainably/ethically produced:
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 numbers represent the 2018-2019 fiscal year, in order to avoid having COVID-19 affect the numbers. Detailed reports were requested from all vendors, but due to the pandemic, many vendors did not have resources to provide these reports. Because of this, we only had access to reports covering about 60% of our purchases. However, the data is an accurate representation of the overall purchases and so we have used it to estimate the full percentage of sustainable items.

All items marked as "organic" in the spreadsheet are USDA certified organic. The on-campus UW Farm is certified as USDA Organic and WA organic.

Website URL where the institution’s validated Real/Good Food Calculator results are publicly posted:
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Which of the following food service providers are present on campus and included in the inventory/assessment?:
Present? Included?
Dining operations and catering services operated by the institution Yes Yes
Dining operations and catering services operated by a contractor No No
Student-run food/catering services No No
Franchises (e.g., regional or global brands) Yes Yes
Convenience stores Yes Yes
Vending services Yes No
Concessions Yes No

Total annual dining services budget for food and beverage products:
$10 million or more

A brief description of the institution’s sustainable food and beverage purchasing program:
UW Dining is working to increase the amount of food purchases that is plant-based as well as locally-sourced. Both are goals in the current UW Sustainability Action Plan. UW Dining has been working to identify and expand our offerings.

We purchase produce from the on-campus UW Farm in a partnership to support the on-campus efforts while offering students hyper-local, sustainable produce. The UW Farm has been certified USDA organic.

Other local & sustainable vendors include:
* We use Wilcox Family Farms all-natural, organic eggs. Wilcox Family Farms has been awarded Salmon Safe certification, recognizing farming practices that protect the health of our rivers and streams.
* Medosweet is a local family-owned dairy distributor that provides us with milk from Smith Brother Farms. The fresh milk arrives at our loading docks within three days of the milking. Medosweet products are all natural, from cows not treated with rBST.
* Produce is supplied by Charlie’s Produce, a local employee-owned company. Charlie’s has been buying local produce for 25 years. They have 15 conventional growers in the Puyallup/Kent/Mt. Vernon area they draw upon for local produce. They also work with 24 growers in Eastern Washington, plus numerous packing sheds.

The UW is one of 45 colleges and universities participating in the Menus of Change initiative sponsored by the Culinary Institute of America and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Across campus, we continue to roll out dishes based on a plant-forward food philosophy.

We have a great relationship with Food Lifeline, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending hunger in Western Washington, to pick up food items to be used in the local community to feed the hungry. We have three major food service operations that Food Lifeline picks up for and both support community shelters in the University neighborhoods.

Website URL where information about the food and beverage purchasing program is available:
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.