The Soil Association’s Food for Life Catering Mark has announced a new partnership with the NUS’s Green Impact.

The partnership closely aligns the standards of the Green Impact scheme and the Catering Mark, helping universities to provide more sustainable catering.

Less than half of students purchase food from on-campus food outlets Any organisation – including universities, students’ unions and colleges –meeting the Green Impact standards for catering will now be perfectly positioned to achieve the Catering Mark, and those achieving both awards will receive a discount and additional support. Green Impact is a scheme run by the NUS (National Union of Students) encouraging pro-environmental behaviours amongst students. By linking up communication and building team responsibility it helps to raise awareness in universities about the importance of sustainability. Together with the Soil Association’s Food for Life Catering Mark this new initiative will lead improvements in catering across university campuses nationwide.

Rich Watts, senior Catering Mark manager, said: “We know students are looking for more freshly cooked, responsibly sourced food, which is why schemes like the Catering Mark are already playing a part in university catering across the UK. We’re really excited that Green Impact are aligning their standards to our own as it will help link up sustainability across all aspects of catering on campus.”

The Food for Life Catering Mark is the only standard which is independently inspected, giving students, unions and staff an independent endorsement that the food on site is ethical, sustainable, free from undesirable additives and at least 75% of the menu is freshly prepared. This new partnership will consolidate the importance of sustainability in universities. For more information, visit https://www.soilassociation.org/certification/ the-food-for-life-catering-mark/