Building Food Service Staff Familiarity With Local Food

Abstract

Colleges and universities are increasing purchases of local food, which impacts stakeholders along the food supply chain. The dining staff members who prepare locally sourced foods need to have necessary knowledge and skills to support local food-purchasing programs. This article explores the perceptions of dining services staff toward a local food procurement program at a Midwest land grant university. After one year of program implementation, a survey was administered to staff before and after a presentation about local foods.

KEYWORDS:

• local food
• farm to college
• university dining services staff

Research support was contributed by: Rich Pirog (Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture), Arion Thiboumery (Iowa State University), Erin Gaines (Stanford University), and Sarah Kester (University of Montana).