The sustainable food agenda has always been important at Oxford Brookes University. We recognise the importance of providing healthy food, as well as the environmental, economic and social impacts surrounding food systems.
Read more about our ethos and accreditations on our dedicated Food at Brookes website, including being the world’s first Fairtrade University, and refer to our Sustainable Food Strategy and Sustainable Food Action Plan for more details.
In partnership with catering provider Gather & Gather, we have achieved the highest available Three Star Food Made Good Sustainability Award rating from the Sustainable Restaurant Association. The Food Made Good Standard assesses our efforts in sourcing, society , and environment, demonstrating our dedication to sustainable food practices.
Key contract drivers with our partner are to promote healthy and sustainable food options at Brookes. This includes:
We are proud to be a Fairtrade University. This enables us to make a positive contribution to developing countries by:
We also work closely with ‘Good Food Oxford’ and are signatories to the ‘Good Food Oxford Pledge’. We aim to catalyse actions by individuals and organisations that promote a healthy, fair, ethical and environmentally sustainable food system in and around Oxford. And we encourage our community to get involved in local projects.
In line with the latest research, we are moving away from a vegan framing approach. This means that instead of a separate vegan catering outlet, we will embed vegan and vegetarian offerings across all our menus.
We completed Greenhouse Gas Assessment baselines of our menus and set new SMART targets to reduce our impact.
Additionally, we are committed to participation in the Sustainable Palm Oil Communities project in Oxford. By 2025, we will have worked with our suppliers to ensure that where palm oil is present in our food, it will be sourced from sustainable sources. This process is facilitated through annual supplier audits. By doing so, we know that we are helping to protect wildlife around the world from the impact of unsustainable agricultural practices.
