Catering Sustainability
Promoting low carbon diets
As of Michaelmas 2023, the default option at Formal Hall is vegetarian. Meat and fish are available by opting in. During daily food service, there is always a vegan and vegetarian option, which is placed first in the servery and subsided more generously than the meat option. Catering at events is also vegetarian by default.
CamEATS ZERO
Darwin Fellow and Director of Cambridge Zero Professor Emily Shuckburgh, and College Catering Manager Ivan Higney took to the stage in February 2023 to launch CamEATS ZERO, a new initiative focused on supporting Cambridge Colleges to implement sustainable food policies. Ivan, as a member of the CamEATS ZERO Steering Group, has lead the development of a Catering Staff Training Programme for plant-based cookery and minimising food waste.
Sustainable and ethical catering statement
This statement sets out the College’s intentions to minimise the impact of its catering operations on the environment, and its approach to promote sustainable and ethical practices and consumption. Our latest Sustainable and ethical statement was agreed in 2020 and sets out the following:
Summary of Aims
- Reduce ruminant meat.
- Reduce the consumption of dairy products.
- Promote the consumption of more plant-based foods.
- Reduce food wastage.
- Source food and other products locally where possible.
- Ensure that products are traded fairly throughout the supply chain.
- Ensure that we provide fish from sustainable sources, limiting the impact on threatened stocks and through the environmental impacts of aquaculture.
- Reduce single use plastic and reduce the use of all plastic packaging.
- Continue to implement forward-thinking sustainability best practice.
Objectives
- Raise awareness of the benefits to the environment and individuals of the sustainable and ethical statement through communications, training and accreditation applications.
- Monitor performance against the statement aims, including setting sustainable food targets, and reporting regularly on performance against these.
