Marist College, located in Poughkeepsie, New York, in conjunction with dining services partner, Sodexo, has achieved Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Chain of Custody certification.
Marist Dining Services by Sodexo offers more than 3,200 students, faculty and staff MSC certified sustainable seafood in the Student Center Dining Hall, which serves over 3,600 meals on a daily basis. A variety of seafood comprises up to 15% of dining hall menu items and includes MSC certified cod, halibut, pollock and salmon.
To achieve MSC Chain of Custody certification, Marist College Dining Services by Sodexo worked with MSC Chain of Custody certified seafood supplier, Sysco Albany, to ensure complete traceability through the supply chain.
“Sustainability is a fundamental aspect of our overall commitment to environmental stewardship at Marist College and we are proud of the achievement of attaining MSC Chain of Custody certification,” said Steve Sansola, Marist College’s Associate Dean for Student Affairs and Co-Chair of the Campus Sustainability Advisory Committee. “By offering MSC certified sustainable seafood, students, faculty and staff are provided with high quality sustainable seafood products and our procurement contributes to the health of the world’s oceans by choosing seafood from fisheries that have been certified as sustainable and well-managed.”
Marist Dining Services’ additional sustainability initiatives include extensive purchasing of local and regional food products, cooking oil reclamation for bio-diesel or repurposing, promoting zero-waste catering events with compostable products and water-bottle filling stations. A recent renovation of the dining hall resulted in the installation of a vegetative roof, reduced energy and water use through high-efficiency ovens, refrigerators, freezers, dishwashing system, and a new hyper-accelerated food decomposition system which processes organic kitchen and dining hall food waste into organic rich water.
