The Universitat de València, referent in fair trade and sustainable nutrition

## The Universitat de València, referent in fair trade and sustainable nutrition

* Office of the Vice-Principal Sustainability, Cooperation and Healthy Life

On the occasion of the World Fair Trade Day, next 10 May, the Universitat de València stands out for its commitment with food based on social justice, environmental sustainability and health criteria. The institution has improved in a pioneer way towards a model of responsible consumption in their campus.

The second Saturday of May it will be celebrated the World Fair Trade Day historically, that will be next 10 May 2025. On this day it will be claimed that we live in an unfair economic system, but also that, as the Coordinator of Development Organizations remembers, “with our daily consumption we can contribute to the fight against inequalities, poverty and climate change.”

The UV has a lot to celebrate, as with the daily consumption of cafeterias, vending machines of their campus it is possible to contribute to this fight. With the changes in the criteria of the tender processes in the last few years and as the Sustainability Master Plan marks, the Universitat has become a very exceptional case as a university and public institution, as it moves towards a ‘100% fair trade’ model. Currently in most of the vending machines of the UV (more than 80) and most of the cafeterias (6, that will be 9 soon) it is offered exclusively coffee with a fair trade certificate. Moreover, all of them also offer some other product only with fair trade certificate, like cocoa, coffee, sugar, chocolate or biscuits. The certificate guarantees that the product has been produces in full compliance of human rights, that they have been commercialised with fair trade practices and that promote cooperative movements and the inclusion of marginalised collectives.

Besides a fairer food, the UV is offering food each time more sustainable and healthy. The new contracts with the cafeterias include the obligation to offer fruit and vegetables principally fresh, local and form the season; offer citrus and rice exclusively from Valencia; and offer at least a 10% of products with ecologic certificate, within other agreements. Furthermore, the cafeteria is including different measures for the collection of residues, as the availability of drinking fountains with water, the option of menus without drinks or the elimination of bottled water. In the case of the vending machines, most of them have an offer composed principally by healthy and sustainable products (some of them with ecological certificate), basically healthy snacks, fresh fruit, nuts and juice.

In addition, the university community can access local and agro-ecological products sold directly to producers from l’Horta through the system for reception of boxes of agro-ecological products in faculties and libraries, known as the Cistella Responsable.

This improvement has been possible thanks to the coordinated work of diverse unities of the Universitat de València, like the Administrative Procurement Service, UVSustainability and various institutional chairs, as well as the collaboration with social organisations of the environment.

All these consolidates the Universitat de València as a reference in state reference in responsible public trade and in the promotion of a fair, healthy and sustainable food in the university sphere.

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