| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 71.55 |
| Liaison | Kelsey Beal |
| Submission Date | Jan. 18, 2024 |
Indiana University Bloomington
OP-7: Food and Beverage Purchasing
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
1.30 / 6.00 |
Kelsey
Beal Sustainbility Analyst Office of Sustainability |
Percentage of total annual food and beverage expenditures on products that are sustainably or ethically produced:
Percentage of total annual food and beverage expenditures on plant-based foods:
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):
IU assesses its food procurement annually using the methodology outlined by Real Food Challenge. This submission is for FY22.
Data is pulled annually using the IU Dining Food Service Management software.
IU Sustainability and IU Dining assess products and ingredients using the Real Food Challenge standards.
Pulling and assessing the data, making plans for procurement improvement, and assessing student desire of sustainable food is an endeavor that requires partnership with Healthy IU, IU Dining, dietitians, student interns, and sustainability staff. The Office of Sustainability convenes this work.
There are some vendors and products that are included in our attached list that do not have a third-party certification but are local and organic or humane equivalent and included as sustainable products, following STARS's guidelines for exemptions.
To calculate part one of this metric, we filtered all third-party certified Eco Sound, Organic, Humane, and Fair Trade purchases, and included small-scale organic or humane-equivalent producers without certification.
For the plant-based part of this metric, we removed all products labeled Meat, Dairy, Fish, and Poultry; removed distilled spirits; removed packaged snacks; removed sodas and carbonated beverages; removed all water products; removed instant meal products; removed all mass-produced breads (excluding noodles or pasta), and removed confectionery products. The remaining 'plant-based' products totals IU's annual purchased food.
Website URL where the institution’s validated Real/Good Food Calculator results are publicly posted:
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 | Yes | Yes |
| 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:
A brief description of the institution’s sustainable food and beverage purchasing program:
Sustainability is one of the metrics on which vendors and contractors are rated when IU evaluates bids for food and beverage purchasing contracts. This has recently been improved to a range system, rather than a simple ""yes"" or ""no"" as to whether sustainability has been addressed; we can now rate vendors as high, medium, or low on the sustainability section of their proposal (which could affect their overall proposal rating).
Meat-free and low-meat entrees are encouraged via periodic student engagement and education campaigns.
Website URL where information about the food and beverage purchasing program is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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.