Sustainable Food

According to Sustain UK, The food we consume is responsible for 20%- 30% of emissions globally. Meanwhile, the food system is destroying the environment upon which future food production depends, while failing to deliver nutritious affordable food for all.

People & Planet believes universities have a responsibility to address the sustainability and carbon intensity of their food supply chains, whether it is provided internally or through contractors. Universities are also key to shaping behaviour change in the choices we make regarding our attitude to food; the sector could become an example of best practice within the UK.

Research has shown that a plant-based food system would result in the "freeing-up" of 76% of global farmland for climate and nature-focused initiatives. It is particularly important that universities, as global thought leaders initiate this shift in their canteens to lead by example.

Methodology links

1. Does the university have a publicly-available sustainable food policy (or a Sustainable Procurement Policy which integrates sustainability criteria for food) that is reported on annually at a senior level of the university?

Score 20%

Clarifications

  • People & Planet will find the policy on the university website

  • Policy states explicitly that it covers all food outlets and food served by the university (it may exclude vending machines, and students’ union food, for which university does not have responsibility).

  • If the university has outsourced its catering, policies provided by contract caterers reflecting their principles are not acceptable here. The policy must be authored by the university itself and reflect the university’s aims, objectives and principles with regards to healthy, sustainable food.

2 Does the university's sustainable food policy require that sustainability standards are embedded in tenders & contracts with external contractors?

Score 20%

Clarifications:

  • People & Planet will look for this information in the sustainable food policy, procurement policy or similar.

  • This question pertains to food procured through individual suppliers, consortia and other catering purchasing organisations, and to the catering contracts and sub-contracts held, tendered and re-tendered by universities where catering services might be outsourced, i.e. halls of residence catering provisions or staff and student dining provisions.

  • Universities can create their own sustainability standards that cover environmental, social or economic considerations of procurement contracts. People & Planet will expect to see the specific terms of the standards stated in policy.

  • Universities can also state they are complying with The University Caterers Organisation’s (TUCO) Frameworks or the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs( DEFRA)’s guidelines on sustainable procurement.

  • Standards could be in the form of agreement to meet accreditations for commodities, targets for increases or reductions and may pertain to supply chains, workers’ rights, reducing meat and dairy consumption, waste and recycling, reducing carbon emissions.

  • Universities without outsourced catering should make this clear in policy and will receive full marks for Sustainable Food question 2 if they have satisfactory sustainability standards for food procured and served on campus in policy.

Sustainable Food Framework

3. Has the university implemented a comprehensive framework for continual improvement in sustainable food and catering that is regularly audited and verified by an external organisation credible to the sustainable food standards movement and stakeholder bodies?

Score - max 40%

One of the most common ways to measure commitment to sustainable catering in the public sector is through the achievement of an externally assessed sustainable food award, such as the Soil Association’sFood for Life Served Here award, or the Food Made Good Standard by the Sustainable Restaurant Association.

Clarifications

People & Planet will look for evidence on the university website demonstrating progress towards Food for Life Served Here or Sustainable Restaurant Association Food Made Good Standard .

  • A University might have a number of catering outlets that are accredited to different levels of the catering award.

  • Scores will depend on the level of award held and number of outlets on campus holding an award, according to the table below

  • The following would be classed as outlets: halls of residence (this counts as one outlet if they’re managed the same and use the same menus, or counted independently if they are managed separately), canteens, cafes/coffee shops, hospitality menus, anywhere that food is served.

Food For Life Served Here by the Soil Association

Food Made Good Rating by the Sustainable Restaurant Association

Partial coverage*

Bronze

10%

1 Star

10%

Silver

15%

2 Star

15%

Gold

20%

3 Star

20%

Majority coverage**

Bronze

30%

1 Star

30%

Silver

35%

2 Star

35%

Gold

40%

3 Star

40%

*at least one outlet on campus complies with an external framework.

**More than half of outlets comply with an external framework.

Clarifications

  • 40% here represents full marks for the external framework question, which is 40% of the whole sustainable food section.

  • Where universities have several outlets with different ratings or awards, a median will need to be awarded. i.e the accredited outlets will be put in ascending order and the middle outlet will be taken as representative of the institution.

  • Halls of residence are considered university food outlets.

  • Accreditations achieved in the last 12 months will be accepted.

People & Planet will calculate scores based on the information found on the university website. Scores will be verified by the Soil Association and Sustainable Restaurant Association, however the award or ratings provided by these organisations also need to be displayed prominently on the university website.

Community Food

4. Does the university provide space and / or other support for student / staff-led sustainable food projects.

Score 10%

People & Planet will look for an outline, news item or case study of the project on the university website. The project should be ongoing and any news updated within the last 12 months.

Clarifications

All of these activities will score full points:

  • Provision of food growing space either on or off the university campus (this might include partnership with a community garden/ rental of an allotment allocation / provision of growing space wholly owned by the university).

  • Roof gardens, allotments, campus orchards, green walls, container gardening, window boxes and raised beds are acceptable if the student and staff community have access to leading or co-managing the project.

  • If the students’ union has provided the space for food growing, it is expected that the university provides donation-in-kind that will support the project, i.e. equipment / funds/ communications support.

  • Student society/club/group or trades union led projects are expected to be supported by the university in the ways outlined above.

  • Space and support for student/staff run sustainable food distribution projects such as veg-box scheme or food co-ops is acceptable

Plant-Based Eating

5. Does the university have at least one plant-based food outlet on campus?

Score 10%

  • Vegetarian 5% (no meat or fish is served)

  • Fully plant-based (no product derived from animals is contained in any food served) 10%

Clarifications

  • Outlets must be staffed and serve hot food to be considered.

  • Commitment to plant-based options or temporary plant-based days will not score points.

  • Outlets must be operated by the university and not the student union.

  • Outlets must be accessible to all students and not part of residential accommodation.

  • People & Planet will expect to find this information in a sustainable food policy, or on dedicated pages related to food on campus.

Universities with fewer than 5000 students that can demonstrate they have just one outlet on campus can still score points by having a plant-based or vegetarian menu once per week:

5% One fully vegetarian day per week.

10% One fully plant-based day per week.

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