In order to examine the sustainable food practice of Carleton College, we consider three main areas:

Food Sources

1. Local Food
   • Dairy products, including milk and yogurt, are purchased from Kemps, located in Rochester, Minnesota. Sodexho is looking to begin purchasing cheese from a dairy in Wisconsin.
   • An emphasis is being put on purchasing from Food Alliance certified farms in the Midwest
     • http://www.foodalliance.org/certification/index.html
     • $25,000-$30,000 a year spent on food from the Food Alliance out of a budget around $2 million a year.
     • Efforts are being made to expand this connection. Sodexho wants to commit to purchasing a certain acreage of food from Food Alliance certified farms. This arrangement would provide these farms with a guarantee of purchase and would guarantee Sodexho a reliable and fresh source of produce.

1. Fair Trade
   • All of the coffee served in the snack bar and dining halls is Fair Trade certified, and most is organic and shade-grown. It is supplied by Green Mountain.
   • http://www.transfairusa.org/content/resources/faq.php

Food Service

1. Food Health
   • No food with trans-fats
   • Cater to student wants, which often means less healthful foods, such as pizza and grill items
2. Nutrional Education
   • Nutrition labels on some prepared food items
   • For Sodexho standard recipes, the nutrition information is available, but not always for recipes from other sources
3. Demystifying the Food System
   • When the source of the food is known, it is sometimes labeled. Often, the source of the food is unknown by dining hall staff
   • Some labels of food sources exist
   • Online Menu is not ALWAYS accurate
4. Vegetarian Options Always Available

Food Waste

1. Resuable Tableware
   • Silverware, trays, cups, and plates are reusable in the dining halls
   • In the snack bar, reusable tableware is not offered
2. Reduced Packaging
   • Efforts have been made to use biodegradable paperware
   • Recycled napkins are used in all dining facilities
   • Sodexho has relationships with Cereplast and Fabri-Kal, both of which offer products that are biodegradable and made from renewable resources. This relationship has not yet been tapped into on Carleton’s campus, although at Reunion in June 2007, Sodexho plans to use these sources to provide biodegradable tableware made from renewable resources.
3. Pre- and post-consumer food Waste Composting
   • Food is composted in campus-owned houses, maintained by SOPE
   • A SOPE taskforce has applied for an EPA STAR grant called "P3" (People, Prosperity, and the Planet) for $10,000 to start a composting program for the campus dining halls. This grant will be used to purchase a Green Mountain Technologies Earth Tub.
   • A second grant, through the National Wildlife Foundation, would begin a food-waste study in our dining halls. This $2000 grant was applied for by Tess Dornfeld '10.
4. Grease to Biodiesel
   • All fryer grease from all dining facilities is donated to John Feldman of Feldman Brothers’ Farms, located 4 miles off of highway 19. The grease is converted into diesel fuel and used for farm equipment. This arrangement began 10/11/2006.

Links to Related Information

• Local growers we currently have a relationship with
• Dining hall nutrition info
• Dining hall menu
• Sodexho corporate webpage
• Food Alliance webpage
• Fair Trade certification webpage
• Green Mountain Coffee corporate webpage
• Monterey Bay Aquarium seafood watch webpage
  
• Students Organized to Protect the Environment (SOPE) webpage
  
• Cereplast corporate webpage
• Fabri-Kal corporate webpage
  

Contacts for More Information

Joe Winegardener, General Manager, Dining Services, jwinegar@acs.carleton.edu
Dennis Easley Superintendent of Grounds deasley@acs.carleton.edu
Beth Bennett (’07), Cailey Gibson (’07), and Emily LeGrand (’09) 2006-2007 presidents of SOPE bennetel@carleton.edu
gibsonc@carleton.edu
legrande@carleton.edu
Evan Rowe (’09) Head of committee reviewing Sodexho for contract renewal rowee@carleton.edu