McGill Food and Dining Services

Local and Fair Trade

Local and fair trade products are offered in McGill cafeterias whenever possible. Most dairy products are procured from local suppliers and an estimated 95% of produce is purchased from local suppliers when in season.

All retail outlets run by McGill Food and Dining Services offer Fair Trade Coffee. The New Residence Hall purchases Fair Trade Coffee for its cafeteria and Starbucks Fair Trade coffee for its on-site catered events.

Sustainable Operations

McGill Food Services has also taken steps to ensure the sustainability of its operations, notably:

• Installation of grease traps (reducing the amount of grease entering the sewage system and potentially diverting it to biodiesel production) and the "Rhino" in New Rez and Bronfman cafeterias, which collects grease at the source.
• A reduction in the type and amount of packaging used (from polystyrene to recyclable plastic/paper wherever possible; replacing individual creamers/sugar packets with bulk dispensers)
• Coming soon- Jet sprays of chilled tap water in residence hall cafeterias to refill your reusable bottle!

Did you know? You can receive a discount in most Food Services cafeterias when you bring your own mug/dishware! Reusable polypropylene containers are now sold in Residence cafeterias.

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The Plate Club

The Plate Club loans reusable dishware to students, staff and faculty on a daily basis in the SSMU cafeteria; just bring your McGill ID card! Reusable tableware is also available for parties, events and club activities.

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Fall Farmer’s Market on Campus

The market occurs during the fall harvest and provides the McGill community and neighborhood residents the opportunity to buy fresh, healthy, organic and local food directly from the farmers who produce it. This initiative came out of the Rethink Conference 2008 and developed with the collaboration of students, staff and faculty. The Farmer’s Market is held in Three Bares Park every Tuesday until mid-October.

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McGill Food Systems Project

Born out of Greening McGill's local food campaign, "From Field to Feast", the McGill Food Systems Project is a cooperative project between students, McGill Food and Dining Services, and the McGill Office of Sustainability, developed to use student research and community collaboration to improve the food operations on our campuses. The McGill Food Systems Project will endeavor to maximize the ecological, social and economic sustainability of McGill's food systems through engaging the McGill community in consultation, facilitating McGill-focused research projects, and supporting sustainable change in McGill policies and operations. The project aims to analyze the current purchasing patterns of McGill’s campus cafeterias, including Chartwells and Sodexo, to compare the desirability and feasibility of adopting more sustainable alternatives.

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Gault apples

The McGill Gault Nature Reserve, an international biosphere reserve, is surrounded by the town of Mont-St-Hilaire. Between the developed town and the nature reserve are a series of organically grown apple orchards that act as a buffer between the town and the sensitive flora and fauna of the reserve.

Threatened by encroaching development projects, the Gault Nature Reserve orchestrated a linkage between McGill University residences and the orchard farmers. It was agreed that McGill Residences would buy the organically grown apples from the orchards surrounding Gault, thus maintaining the economical viability of the orchards.

Every bite a student takes out of a Gault apple is helping to save Gault's pristine environment!