Yesterday was a big day for college campus food. Real Food Challenge, the largest student food justice organization in the country -- which grew out of Boston local The Food Project -- and Sodexo, one of the world's largest food-service providers signed an agreement that significantly advances Sodexo's supply-chain transparency.
This is huge. An entirely student-led organization has effectively influenced strategic and operational change inside a massive food company. This proves that the demands by college and university students for food that is fresh, sustainable and local are real and have force in the marketplace. This group of consumers, one largely overlooked by food companies of all kinds until now, has been heard.
Just last Friday, students from Bunker Hill Community College shared their work with Real Food Challenge (BHCC is one of the Boston-area schools that has a RFC chapter) at the Cross Campus Community Table. Recent MIT Sloan alums who are building food startup Honest Foods learned from the Bunker Hill students about the Real Food Calculator, a powerful RFC-pioneered tool that tracks the food supply chain.
And now this national news... According to the press release published yesterday:
"The agreement puts in place a rigorous and comprehensive set of standards, defined by the Real Food Calculator, for judging the social responsibility and sustainability of Sodexo’s vendors and food producers. The assessment tool, developed by Real Food Challenge student researchers and associated food experts, lays out four key criteria areas for evaluating ‘real food’ – local & community-based, fair, ecologically sound and humane. By using the Real Food Calculator standards, Sodexo aligns itself with the most progressive metric for institutional food service."
The full press release from yesterday may be found here.
I am beside myself. Bravo, Sodexo. Bravo, Real Food Challenge. What a way to start the weekend.
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