Stanford Dining is committed to providing community-based, fair, ecologically sound and humane foods whenever possible. Through our purchasing priorities, we support community-based farms and businesses, prevent excessive use of pesticides, antibiotics and hormones, reduce energy and water use and waste runoff, and provide fresh, healthy and delicious meals.

Stanford Dining promotes vegetarian and vegan meals, which require less energy and fewer resources to produce. We offer clearly-labeled, delicious vegan and vegetarian options daily at every meal that provide students with all the necessary nutrients and food groups. A vegetarian/vegan protein is always combined with whole grains. In addition, we offer Barilla Plus pasta which is a vegetarian source of protein and nuts and beans on our salad bar.

Over the past several years at Stanford Dining, we have established relationships with many farmers, fishermen, and ranchers in the Northern California region that help fill Stanford’s plates with healthy, flavorful foods. The following are descriptions of some of the local farmers, ranchers and distributors we work closely with.

In addition to the direct relationships we’ve built with these partners, we purchase local produce from over 150 local growers through carefully selected local distributors.

ALBA Organics - Salinas Valley, CA
Stanford Dining has partnered with ALBA Organics in Salinas, CA since 2003, which provides distribution and market access for about 30 small organic farms to expand and diversify their production. The Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association (ALBA) “generates opportunities for farm workers and limited-resource, aspiring farmers to grow and sell crops” to institutional purchasers like Stanford Dining. ALBA's mission is to “advance economic viability, social equity and ecological land management among limited-resource and aspiring farmers.” http://www.albafarmers.org/

Clover Stornetta Farms - Petaluma, CA
All of the non-fat milk in our dining halls is organic and from Clover Stornetta: “is a locally owned and operated dairy processing plant in Northern California. We work closely with our family farmers to bring our consumers the cleanest, tastiest and best quality dairy products on the market.” http://www.cloverstornetta.com/

Berkeley Farms – Hayward, CA
We source antibiotic and hormone free milk from Berkeley Farms, which has been a local provide of milk products for over 90 years. “Berkeley Farms and the independent dairy farms we work with consider ourselves ‘nutritional ecologists,’ respecting the environment and providing advanced, skilled husbandry throughout the milk production process.” http://www.berkeleyfarms.com

Glaum Egg Ranch - Santa Cruz, CA
All of our shell eggs are Cage Free and come from Glaum Egg Ranch: “A local Family Farm since 1953, we at Glaum Egg Ranch take pride in producing the freshest egg you will ever taste. The health of the chickens is our first priority. Since our ranch is 100% CAGE FREE, our chickens, at anytime, have the luxury of roaming free, dust bathing, perching, nesting, eating and drinking. Our chickens drink fresh water daily from our own well and are fed a natural organic and vegetarian diet without animal proteins.” http://www.glaumeggranch.com/ 

Stanford Dining is a Seafood Watch partner of the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We promise to never offer anything from the red “Avoid” category of the seafood watch card and to help build awareness about ocean-friendly seafood choices by bringing in guest chefs and experts in the field to our dining halls and providing labeling and signage about seafood to students.

http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/
cr/seafoodwatch.asp