Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 57.04
Liaison Larry Cook
Submission Date Feb. 29, 2016
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

University of South Carolina
OP-6: Food and Beverage Purchasing

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.04 / 4.00 Namita Koppa
Assistant Director for Program Management
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Percentage of dining services food and beverage expenditures that are local and community-based and/or third party verified:
1

A copy of an inventory, list or sample of sustainable food and beverage purchases:
An inventory, list or sample of sustainable food and beverage purchases:
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Does the institution wish to pursue Part 2 of this credit (food and beverage expenditures for on-site franchises, convenience stores, vending services, or concessions)?:
No

Percentage of on-site franchise, convenience store, vending services, and concessions food and beverage purchases that are local and community-based and/or third party verified:
0

A copy of an inventory, list or sample of on-site franchise, convenience store, vending machine, and/or concessions food and beverage purchases that are sustainably produced:
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An inventory, list or sample of on-site franchise, convenience store, vending machine, and/or concessions food and beverage purchases that are sustainably produced:
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A brief description of the sustainable food and beverage purchasing program:

Carolina Dining approved its first sustainability plan, which includes the following goals:

1. Carolina Dining will create a local inventory purchasing system (LIPS) including point of origin, amount of product purchased, product identification, how much was spent per unit/total, what dining hall it is being used in, and vegan/vegetarian/nonveg/allergen identifiers. Real Food criteria will be kept in mind; once/if President Pastides signs the Real Food Commitment, the LIPS can begin tracking Real Food criteria.

2. Carolina Dining will host and facilitate a stakeholder engagement meeting including Senn Brothers, Senn’s local suppliers, Carolina Dining, and the Office of Sustainability to discuss a transparent, traceable system to track produce from farm to dining hall.

3. Carolina Dining will create branding/marketing templates to introduce the public to local suppliers as they enter the campus dining system and to uniformly and clearly label local produce with point of origin in dining halls.

4. Carolina Dining will publicize its approved Spring 2016 sustainability plan, members of its sustainability working group, and local suppliers on its website.

5. Carolina Dining will provide a space on its website where prospective local suppliers can register their interest. A brief survey which will help Dining decide if they want to pursue a supplier will be included so that Carolina Dining can provide feedback to each prospective supplier in a timely manner.

6. Carolina Dining will research costs and use of reusable, recyclable, and compostable products to inform decision-making on future purchases.

7. Carolina Dining will work with Carolina Productions in spring 2016 to plan food and sustainability related films for the “Carolina Dining Night at the Movies” for the 2016-17 school year.

8. Carolina Dining will use the Sustainable Carolina Farm & Garden hydroponics purchases to create uniformity in identification, delivery, labeling, and purchasing local products. By the end of spring 2016, one hydroponics unit will be piloted within a dining hall.


A brief description of the methodology used to track/inventory sustainable food and beverage purchases:

A local inventory purchasing system (LIPS) has been created as an supplement to Sodexo's MarketConnect, which does not track local purchasing at the corporate level. LIPS includes the following:

point of origin, amount of product purchased, product identification, how much was spent per unit/total, what dining hall it is being used in, and vegan/vegetarian/nonveg/allergen identifiers, Real Food criteria


Total annual food and beverage expenditures:
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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 No No
Dining operations and catering services operated by a contractor Yes Yes
Franchises No No
Convenience stores No No
Vending services No No
Concessions No No

Has the institution achieved the following?:
Yes or No
Fair Trade Campus, College or University status No
Certification under the Green Seal Standard for Restaurants and Food Services (GS-46) No
Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification No
Signatory of the Real Food Campus Commitment (U.S.) No

A brief description of other sustainable restaurant and food service standards that the institution’s dining services operations are certified under:
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The website URL where information about the institution's sustainable food and beverage purchasing efforts is available:
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.