Sustainability

Dining Services is committed to operating sustainably. We are always working to minimize the university's impact on the environment by reducing waste and creating meals from fresh, locally grown foods. Many of our cafes, markets, cafeterias and dining halls are Green Spaces Certified.

Our goal is to incorporate sustainable practices in all aspects of food purchasing, food preparation and waste disposal.

Sustainable Food Working Group

Dining Services and Energy Management and Sustainable Operations co-chairs the Sustainable Food Working Group. This group explores ways to create a sustainable food system at the university. For more information about the Sustainable Food Working Group, please see its Terms of Reference.

Fair Trade Campus

We are proud to support UAlberta in its Fair Trade Campus designation. Look for fair trade certified food items (like coffee, tea and chocolate bars) in the Lister dining hall, PLH dining hall, Engrained, and Euromarket. Use our locations map to find each establishment and its hours of operation.

Sustainable Seafood Certifications

To help ensure that seafood in Dining Services locations is sustainably harvested from aquatic ecosystems, Dining Services has two chain-of-custody certifications through their contract with Aramark, from the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC). These certifications are renewed every three years, having last been renewed in 2023.

The MSC is the only wild-capture fisheries certification and ecolabelling program that meets best practice requirements set by both the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO) and ISEAL, the global membership association for sustainability standards. In March 2017, the MSC became the first global seafood certification program to be recognized for rigour and credibility by the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI).

ASC is the world’s leading certification scheme for farmed seafood—known as aquaculture—and the ASC label only appears on food from farms that have been independently assessed and certified as being environmentally and socially responsible.

Dining Services serves MSC certified cod, haddock, pollock and sole, and ASC certified basa.

Look for the MSC and ASC icons on our products in our retail locations and in our dining halls (Lister and Peter Lougheed Hall).