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Baseline inventory of the UBC food system : healthy food situation assessment and action plan

University of British Columbia. Sustainability Office

Snacks are an integral part of a university student’s diet given that schedules do not always allow enough time for students to sit down for a regular meal. This means that the to-go items that are offered at the main campus locations play a key role in determining student health. At the University of British Columbia campus, UBC Food Services is the primary food provider as they run and maintain several central dining locations such as Totem Park Residence Dining Hall, Place Vanier Residence Dining Hall, Ike’s Café and the Loop. To assess the healthy snack options on campus from a consumer’s perspective, a baseline inventory of all snack items available at the four locations was compiled and a survey of students was administered. Each inventory item was given a categorized as “choose most”, “choose sometimes”, “choose least”, and “not recommended” according to B.C. Food Sales Guidelines and labeling such as whether the snack was gluten-free was recorded. The Loop and Place Vanier had the most items under the ‘choose most’ category, and therefore, had the healthiest choices. Totem Park and Ike’s Cafe showed lower numbers of snack items belonging to the ‘choose most’ category. The combined survey results showed that 59% of consumers felt that the location they frequented had enough healthy options. At several locations, consumers voiced the desire for more vegan options as well as a greater variety of fruit. This was inconsistent with our inventory and led us to conclude that, although UBC Food Services is actively pursuing its local, fair trade, and organic procurement goals, consumers are often unaware of their procurement policies and the nature of the goods they provide. Therefore, our recommendations for UBC Food Services includes increasing the amount of ‘choose most’ options at both Totem and Ike’s Cafe, improving the labeling of dietary facts on snack items to increase awareness among consumers, as well as increasing the number of vegan, gluten-free and lactose-free snack alternatives. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”

Text

University of British Columbia. LFS 450; UBC Social Ecological Economic Development Studies (SEEDS) Student Report

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0108586

Land and Food Systems, Faculty of

Unreviewed

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ca/