This document discusses eating sustainably on the UCLA campus. It describes the author's dinner, which included a salad, chicken fajitas, cereal, dessert, and a beverage. It then discusses where UCLA Dining Services gets its food from, including local organic produce suppliers and a bakery that makes desserts on campus. The document also describes UCLA's composting program in dining halls that diverts food waste from landfills. It estimates that 1/4 pound of food is wasted per person daily on campus.

1. Eating
Sustainably on
Campus
Matt Spring

2. My Dinner

3. Ingredients
Salad-Salad- Spinach and Iceberg Lettuce, Carrot Sticks, Broccoli, Olives, Sunflower Seeds, Hardboiled Egg,
Cucumber, Jicama, Ranch Dressing
Chicken FajitasChicken Fajitas- Spanish Rice, Two Tortillas, Ground Seasoned Chicken
Cereal-Cereal- Cheerios (Whole Grain Oats, Sugar, Oat Bran, Modified Corn Starch )& Low Fat Granola
(sugar, oat clusters, raisins) with Fat Free Milk
Dessert-Dessert- Apricot Coffeecake (Sugar, Flour, and Egg, Milk, Apricot) and a Banana
BeverageBeverage- Cranberry Juice
I was not able to get all the detailed ingredients because the UCLA Dining Services Online Menu
was not accurate and did not have all the nutritional content for the foods served. They only had
information for the Spanish Rice and the info for Cheerios off of nutritiondata.com
^ Spanish Rice
Cheerios >

4. Where does UCLA Dining get their
food?
• I asked the Manager at Hedrick Dining Hall about where they get their
food. He told me that they order most of their organics and fruits and
vegetables from Worldwide Produce, which is located in Los Angeles.
They get most of their processed food, such as cereals from Sysco. I was
surprised to find out that all the pastries and dessert items are made on
campus in a bakery.
• I visited the Worldwide Produce website to find out where they get their
food. Most of their produce comes from small locally grown farms
located within 200 miles of LA County. During the offseason they get it
from other countries, but it still is organically certified.
• Once the raw materials are delivered to UCLA, they cook all of the meals
in their individual kitchens and you can see them being cooked. For
example you can see the sheets of dough for the pizza and watch them
add the toppings before it goes into the oven. The Dining Services also
uses zero trans-fat oils, but in my opinion have a lot of oily/ greasy
foods.

5. Sample Order Form

6. Composting & Waste
UCLA Dining Services has piloted a Composting program in all the dining halls. All post-consumer
food waste is separated from the waste stream and is sent for composting at an off-site composting
facility instead of a landfill (most likely located in the valley or outskirts of L.A., they have a large
facility in the City of Industry), and turns it into useful by-products such as soil amendments and
fertilizers . The composting bin is like a regular trash bin and gets picked up by the same company as
the trash (Athens Services). They recently have added this service to Rendezvous residential
restaurant. The truck route goes throughout L.A. therefore adding to pollution and gasoline
consumption.
In terms of food waste, it is estimated that ¼ of a pound of food is lost per person per day (Robert
Gilbert, class guest speaker). For me I feel like ever since Hedrick Dining Hall went trayless, I got in
the habit of never using trays at the other dining halls, and this led me to waste less, because I only
take what I can carry, eat it, and then go back for seconds. The big problem that leads to food waste is
that many peoples eyes are bigger than their stomachs!

7. Composting & Waste
UCLA Dining Services has piloted a Composting program in all the dining halls. All post-consumer
food waste is separated from the waste stream and is sent for composting at an off-site composting
facility instead of a landfill (most likely located in the valley or outskirts of L.A., they have a large
facility in the City of Industry), and turns it into useful by-products such as soil amendments and
fertilizers . The composting bin is like a regular trash bin and gets picked up by the same company as
the trash (Athens Services). They recently have added this service to Rendezvous residential
restaurant. The truck route goes throughout L.A. therefore adding to pollution and gasoline
consumption.
In terms of food waste, it is estimated that ¼ of a pound of food is lost per person per day (Robert
Gilbert, class guest speaker). For me I feel like ever since Hedrick Dining Hall went trayless, I got in
the habit of never using trays at the other dining halls, and this led me to waste less, because I only
take what I can carry, eat it, and then go back for seconds. The big problem that leads to food waste is
that many peoples eyes are bigger than their stomachs!