Real Food Challenge Canada
Creators: name: Akhtar, Mustafa
name: Driscoll, Bryan
name: Ma, Angela
name: Lin, Lisa
name: Deng, Danny
name: Barrows, Elizabeth
Publisher: name: The University of British Columbia
Year: 2017

description: The Real Food Challenge (RFC) is a campus food assessment system established in United States currently being adapted for Canada by Meal Exchange, a non-profit organization. Food is assessed for sustainability and social justice across four categories (community-based, fair, ecologically sound, and humane) with their own set of criteria. Thirty-seven food items from the wrap station and fruit stand in the Totem Park Dining Hall, managed by UBC Student Housing and Hospitality Services, a division UBC Food Service, were assessed using the Real Food Guide. Purchasing invoices were obtained and suppliers were contacted to obtain detailed information on the sources of these food items. Once the source was identified, a search for information required for assessing the Real Food criteria was undertaken. The results from our audit showed that 70% of the food items could not be classified as ‘Real Food’ mostly because they were disqualified based on the Real Food Guide. The ‘Real Food’ label could be applied to 30% of the items with half classified as Real Food A (criteria met in two of the four categories) and half as Real Food B (criteria met in one out of four category). We found that most of the fruits, such as apples, oranges, pears, bananas, and kiwis were considered ‘Real Food’ while baked goods, deli meats, condiments (except for mustard), and snacks were disqualified, mainly due to the presence of additives or ingredients derived from genetically modified crops. This audit presented some challenges including evaluating each item through the very strict community-based or loosely defined ecologically sound criteria. In addition, we found discrepancies in the assessment system with highly refined ingredients from genetically modified crops being disqualifiers while there is no scientific support for such a broad rejection while palm oil is not a disqualifier despite well documented large-scale adverse effects on the environment and on rural populations. We suggest entertaining the addition of a fifth criterion for nutrition and a few other improvements. As for UBC Food Services staff, we suggest that they try to source bread without additives so that it can be classified as ‘Real Food’, fair trade avocados and bananas and, prepare sandwich meats in-house to avoid nitrate or nitrite-containing sandwich ingredients. Finally, we suggest that UBC hosts a Real Food Challenge or Meal Exchange summit to further its commitment to sustainable food on campus. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”