UC Berkeley To Make 50% of Entrees Plant-Based by 2027

EAT

Jan 12

The university’s plant-forward commitment aims to improve sustainability, animal welfare and student health.

The University of California, Berkeley has announced that 50 percent of entrees offered in its dining commons on campus will be plant-based by 2027.

The sustainability push will see the campus food service, which feeds tens of thousands of students and faculty each year, transition their menus gradually to add more plant-based dishes in the next few years with the help of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).

HSUS is working with UC Berkeley as part of the Forward Food Collaborative initiative, which aims to make 50 percent of the meals offered in institutional dining programmes plant-based by 2027.

With UC Berkeley pledging its commitment to the initiative, HSUS will now provide free resources including chef-led culinary training, student engagement and marketing support, and plant-based events, to all help make the university’s transition successful.

This has already included a plant-based takeover of the Crossroads, the school’s largest on-campus dining commons. At the takeover, students learnt more about the global impact of their food choices, as well as the benefits of a plant-rich diet which has been consistently proven to have a lighter health and environmental footprint.

“We are thrilled by UC Berkeley’s continued commitment to creating a better world for both people and animals by setting this goal,” said Kate Jarvis, senior outreach coordinator for food service innovation with the HSUS.

Widely regarded as one of the top universities in the world, UC Berkeley’s commitment to increase its plant-based food offering reflects how leading institutions are adopting plant-forward approaches that favor more plants and less meat and dairy products to help improve sustainability credentials, public health, and animal welfare.

And wider progress for HSUS’ Forward Food Collaborative project is promising, too. The group says that the average percentage of plant-based options in U.S. institutions at the start of 2022 was 13.75 percent. Over a year later, the average percentage is now at 21 percent. By 2027, HSUS are hopeful that the figure will be at least 50 percent.

Plant-Based Universities

Many other universities in the US are getting involved in the push for more plant-forward food choices, including several schools in the so-called Big Ten that have already made commitments. Penn State plans on having 35 percent of its entrees be plant-based by 2025, the University of Michigan serving 55 percent plant-based entrees by 2025, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a plant-based target of 30 percent by 2025.

These pledges are in turn helping to change the food service industry in the U.S., with Aramark, the largest foodservice provider in the country, announcing in 2022 its commitment to make nearly half of its food on campuses plant-based. The move is said to be transforming the menus at more than 250 colleges and universities across America. “Increasing plant-based proteins, while decreasing animal proteins, is a major factor in helping us reduce food-related emissions and is responsive to changing consumer dietary preferences”, explained Alan Horowitz, VP of Sustainability at Aramark.

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