Food

Sustainable Food is one of the ambitions for the Roadmap 2021-2026. The goal is to have:

➔ 95% of the meat has the Better Life label ✩✩✩

➔ 60-95% of the food offered in canteens and by catering is vegetarian or plant-based (depending on the location)

➔ Establish an interdisciplinary Food Living Lab to study and facilitate the transitions to sustainable food systems – including plant-based food

Canteens

The catering company providing lunch for meetings has increased the vegetarian and vegan options on the menus. Since 2023, vegetarian catering is the new standard at the RUG. In the lunch menu you can even see the sustainability aspects of the different options: local, fairtrade, organic, fish with MSC ecolabel.

The canteen has also several measures in place to reduce food waste, for example:

• Combideals in the afternoon with what’s left over
• Discount stickers, like 30% off at the end of the day
• Offer smaller portions
• Keep a smaller stock

The canteen is also looking for ways to collaborate with TooGoodToGo.

Students and staff are involved in greening the canteen; we have a Food Group of staff members, different student ambassadors and Living Lab projects.

Coffee

Partly on the advice of the Green Office, the Board of the university has opted for organically produced fair trade coffee, which is roasted (ie locally) in Groningen and distributed fossil-free. The coffee grounds are used to produce sustainable coffee cups. For every liter of coffee, tea or other drink, the costs of one liter of clean drinking water are donated by the coffee supplier to developing countries, through the Made Blue campaign: 'a liter for a liter'.