Food Ethics

Food Ethics - Sustainability and the Environment

Robinson College is committed to improving and minimising the impact of its operations on the environment. The Team in the Catering and Conference Department recognises that food production, availability and delivery are areas where the impact of operations can have a significant effect upon sustainability of supply. In order to minimise the impact of its operations therefore, the department has adopted the following Food Ethics Policy.

Key Features of Menu Planning

Menus are designed around seasonally available products.
As far as is practically and cost-sustainably possible, products are sourced preferentially from suppliers who are locally based, then regionally, nationally, European mainland and finally internationally based. We define local as being within 25 miles radius of Cambridge.
Dish frequency and menu cycle planning which works towards the limitation of foods of animal origin (meat, poultry, dairy products and eggs).
Exclusion of at risk fish species from our menus. Such fish are identified by the MCS (Marine Conservation Society) and we consciously choose only those fish that can be sourced sustainably. Visit the MCS website for more information.
Robinson College has been awarded Fairtrade Status by the Fairtrade Foundation. Please view our Fairtrade Policy. We choose and promote Fairtrade-certified products, imported to ensure a fair deal for disadvantaged producers. Some of the companies we use belong to the Fairtrade organisation and we actively sell some products in our Garden Restaurant and the Red Brick Café Bar. We are also pleased to promote the use of Fairtrade products through special occasions and events such as a Fairtrade Formal Hall night which featured a menu themed around Fairtrade products and ingredients. From time to time, we are also pleased to offer Fairtrade wine and beer in the RBCB.
Where viable, we use organic food produce on our menus.
As frequently as possible within cost constraints, when poultry is featured on menus, this will be from free-range produce.

Suppliers

To help achieve this policy, Robinson College has carefully selected its suppliers and is proud to be associated with reputable companies who have procedures in place to enable us to ensure that we are able to manage the impact of our purchasing decisions.

The Cambridge Food Company, Cambridge: Free-range eggs from Bitteswell Farm, Leicestershire, Suffolk bacon and sausages, some good local cheeses from Hitchin, Norfolk and Lincolnshire.

The Denham Estate, Barrow, Bury St Edmunds: Estate-reared venison, and rare breed beef and lamb. Also home produced apple juice.

Hilary’s Wholesale, Cambridge: Fruit and vegetables supplies from Ely, Boston, Chatteris, Lincolnshire, March and many other local farms.

Powter’s of Newmarket: Award winning sausage meat, sausages and chipolatas.

Foodwell, Waterbeach, Cambs : All of our potatoes are from Little Downham, Cambs.

Barkers Bakery, Cottenham, Cambs: All our fresh bread, French sticks and baps

River Farm Smokery, Bottisham, Cambs: Smoked salmon, game and poultry.

Radwinter Wild Game, Saffron Walden: Local game from Trumpington, Great Shelford and Duxford

Andrews Butchers, Cambridge: East Anglian pork, beef and lamb.

Operational Arrangements

Minimise energy usage in food production, transport and storage through careful operational management and by controlling supplier delivery processes.
Re-cycling – suppliers are encouraged to reduce packaging. The majority of them use packaging that is biodegradable and/or recyclable. The College has its own recycling system in place – collection bins for tins, plastic, glass and cardboard. Recycled waste is collected by a local recycling company.
Food waste is collected in an innovative vessel for composting which meets the BSI (British Standard Institute) PAS 100 specification for composting.
Minimised deliveries Through careful ordering, to reduce the number of delivery visits required.

Management Information and Targeting

If you can measure it, you can manage it and it is a key objective within the policy to measure and therefore manage our performance. Areas where we are already achieving some success are:

Origin of food produce – suppliers are being required, over time, to state the provenance of products on their invoices. For some suppliers, this requires a computer system change which we accept cannot happen overnight. As this information becomes increasingly available, through recorded statistics, we expect to target/drive sourcing preferences.
Increased re-cycling of packaging and food waste results in reduced land-fill waste. Our record of landfill waste reduction is monitored and recorded.

Gary Dougan
Head Chef
Robinson College
September 2010

Updated September 2010