Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 65.64
Liaison Rachael Wein
Submission Date March 3, 2017
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Smith College
OP-7: Food and Beverage Purchasing

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.99 / 6.00 Andy Cox
Director of Dining Services
Dining Services
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

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:
19

Does the institution wish to pursue Part 2 of this credit (expenditures on conventional animal products)? (If data is not available, respond “No”):
Yes

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):
15.30

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):

Dining services seeks food that is locally grown or processed within 150 miles and environmentally beneficial foods which are organic, hormone or antibiotic free, and humane foods which are cage-free or fair trade.

As a member of CISA (Community in Support of Agriculture), a national organization that supports collaboration of local farmers with local institutions and restaurants, the college supports local farmers and spreads awareness of the importance of buying locally. Smith purchases cage-free eggs and fair trade/organic/kosher coffee from Indigo Coffee Company in nearby Florence, MA. Dairy products are purchased from High Lawn Farm in Lee, MA, which come from pastured Jersey cows that do not receive artificial growth hormones.

Dining Services purchases Vermont-raised ground beef, brisket, top round and pork from Black River Produce in North Springfield, Vt. Black River produces meats from pasture-fed animals that do not receive antibiotics or hormones.

Local, seasonal produce comes from local farmers as much as possible, given the quantities we must obtain. The majority of local produce comes from Outlook Farm in Westhampton, MA, where Dining Services has been purchasing apples for the past 60 years. What Outlook Farm cannot provide at their farm, they purchase from other local farmers and deliver to Smith twice weekly.

During February and March, winter vegetables such as carrots, parsnips, radishes, and beets are delivered to campus by bike from Hadley, MA.

Black River Produce, located in Southern Vermont, is our other source for locally-grown produce. They provide a list of current, locally grown products and note on their delivery invoices what is locally grown.


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 used the criteria provided by the Real Food Challenge to conduct our inventory, and looked at two representative sample months. We chose February and October, as local produce is limited in February, but plentiful in October.


Percentage of total dining services expenditures on Real Food A (0-100):
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Percentage of total dining services expenditures on Real Food B (0-100):
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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 No 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 :
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Additional percentage of dining services food and beverage expenditures on conventional products with other sustainability attributes not recognized above (0-100) :
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The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives 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.