SUSTAINABLE PROCUREMENT STANDARDS
Where and how we source our food matters. Duke Dining has identified clear, ranked priorities for the food it prefers to purchase whenever possible.
Duke Dining uses the standards below to define sustainable food. These standards describe where and how different foods are produced, and they help guide Duke Dining on what to consider when making policy and procurement decisions.
Duke Dining prefers to purchase food that is grown, raised, and/or processed locally in order to support local economies, especially small and mid-sized farms and companies, and to minimize transport, especially of fresh fruit and vegetables. There are 3 tiers of local that we recognize; in order of preference:
· Hyperlocal= food that is grown, raised, and/or processed within 50 miles of campus
· Local= food that is grown, raised, and/or processed within 250 miles of campus or located within the state of North Carolina
· Regional= food that is grown, raised, and/or processed within 400 miles of campus)
Duke Dining prefers to purchase organically grown food to minimize our customers’, farmworkers’, pollinators’, and the environment’s exposure to harmful pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and chemical fertilizers. USDA organic certification is preferred with statements like ‘grown using organic practices’ being secondary to certification.
Duke Dining prefers to purchase meat and dairy products from animals that are treated humanely and allowed to express their natural behaviors.
Duke Dining prefers to purchase meat and dairy products from animals that were never given hormones or sub-therapeutic antibiotics. The exception to this is for animals that are sick and given antibiotics only under the care of a veterinarian.
Duke Dining prefers to purchase food that is grown by businesses that treat their workers fairly, complying with all labor laws and providing safe work environments, and that do not employ slave labor.
Duke Dining prefers to purchase seafood that is responsibly caught by fisheries that do not practice overfishing, catching bycatch, or use slave labor. Duke Dining prefers to purchase seafood that is certified by the Marine Stewardship Council and/or meets the Monterrey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch standards if wild caught. Duke Dining also recognizes the value of farmed seafood and prefers to purchase seafood that is Aquaculture Stewardship Council certified or Best Aquaculture Practices certified.
Duke Dining prefers to purchase foods that have met strict third party certifications that demonstrate they were responsibly grown, raised, and/or processed. These certifications include USDA Organic, Certified Humane, Animal Welfare Approved, Global Animal Partnership, Fair Trade, Marine Stewardship Council, and Monterrey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch.
Sustainable Procurement Standards – Prioritized
For each of the major food products that Duke Dining serves, we have identified a series of priority standards to guide the purchasing decisions we make. Duke Dining is committed to tracking the percentage of our purchases that meet these priority standards and to make goals for increasing our purchases of these responsibly sourced products.
Priority 1:
Antibiotic, hormone, and growth promoter free
Priority 2:
Certified Humanely Raised
Priority 3:
Local (250 miles or state of North Carolina)
Priority 1:
Antibiotic, hormone, and growth promoter free
Priority 2:
Certified Humanely Raised
Priority 3:
Local (250 miles or state of North Carolina)
Priority 1:
Antibiotic, hormone, and growth promoter free
Priority 2:
Certified Humanely Raised
Priority 3:
Local (250 miles or state of North Carolina)
Priority 4:
Certified Organic
Priority 1:
Antibiotic, hormone, and growth promoter free
Priority 2:
Certified Humanely Raised
Priority 3:
Local (250 miles or state of North Carolina)
Priority 4:
Certified Organic
Priority 1:
Marine Stewardship Council Certified
Priority 2:
Listed on Seafood Watch's "Best Choices" or "Good Alternatives" Lists
Priority 3:
Local (250 miles or state of North Carolina)
Priority 4:
Organic and Low Mercury
Priority 1:
Certified Humanely Raised
Priority 2:
Local (250 miles or state of North Carolina)
Priority 1:
From cows not treated with synthetic growth hormones like rBGH
Priority 2:
Humanely Raised
Priority 3:
Local (250 miles or state of North Carolina)
Priority 4:
Certified Organic
Priority 1:
Local (250 miles or state of North Carolina)
Priority 2:
Organic Practice, Certified Organic, or meets stringent criteria of market leader
Priority 1:
Local (250 miles or state of North Carolina)
Priority 2:
Fair Trade/Direct Relationship
Priority 3:
Certified Organic