| Overall Rating | Silver - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 63.76 |
| Liaison | Mark Youndt |
| Submission Date | March 10, 2017 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
Skidmore College
OP-7: Food and Beverage Purchasing
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
0.47 / 6.00 |
Levi
Rogers Director of Sustainability Programs and Assessment Sustainability Office |
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):
Skidmore College Dining Services, the Skidmore Sustainability Office, and the Environmental Studies and Sciences Program created the Sustainable Food internship program in 2015. As many as three students complete the internship each semester. Interns are responsible for reviewing and coding each dining hall food purchase to calculate Skidmore's sustainable food percentage. Interns also research best practices at other colleges and universities, visit current vendors and farms to learn more about our food supply chain, and assist the College in identifying new purchasing opportunities to help us achieve our goal of 25% sustainable food by 2025.
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 inventory all dining hall food purchases made in April, July, September, and October of each year to calculate Skidmore's annual Sustainable Food percentage. Dining Services provides student interns with Dining Hall invoices, and then students enter each purchase into our Sustainable Food spreadsheet. This spreadsheet allows our team to calculate our sustainable food percentage. Each intern completes an internship training to familiarize themselves with Skidmore's Sustainable Food metrics and learn how to accurately analyze our food purchases.
Sustainable Food is primarily defined by the following criteria (adopted from the Real Food Calculator, 2014):
- Local and Community-Based: These foods can be traced to farms and businesses that are locally owned and operated (within 250 miles). Sourcing local and community-based foods supports the local economy and builds community relations. Foods travel fewer miles to reach consumers. Seasonal foods, when fresh, often have a higher nutrient content.
- Fair: Individuals involved in food production, distribution, preparation--and other parts of the food system—work in safe and fair conditions; receive a living wage; are ensured the right to organize and the right to a grievance process; and have equal opportunity for employment. Fair food builds community capacity and ensures and promotes socially just practices in the food system.
- Ecologically Sound: Farms, businesses, and other operations involved with food production practice environmental stewardship that conserves biodiversity and preserves natural resources, including energy, wildlife, water, air, and soil. Production practices should minimize toxic substances as well as direct and indirect petroleum inputs.
- Humane: Animals can express natural behavior in a low-stress environment and are raised with no hormones or unnecessary medication.
- Conscientious: Business operations are guided by the principles of sustainability. The Food Working Group will consider Certified Benefit Corporations and organizations that routinely publish Social Responsibility Reports proving consistent ethical and transparent business practices.
Foods that contain ingredients that have been proven harmful to human health or are produced under egregious labor conditions will not be considered Sustainable Food.
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 | No | No |
| Student-run food/catering services | No | No |
| Franchises (e.g. national or global brands) | No | No |
| Convenience stores | Yes | No |
| Vending services | Yes | No |
| Concessions | No | No |
A brief description of purchased food and beverage products that have other sustainability attributes not recognized above :
Skidmore includes food and beverage purchases from certified B-Corporations in our institutional sustainable food percentage.
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:
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.