Harvard Takes Steps Toward Sustainable Seafood

In recent years, Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) has embraced the University’s sustainability goals. It has revamped its kitchens to use less energy, instituted composting to reduce food waste and taken pains to buy bread and produce from local bakeries and farmers, ensuring its food is not only fresher when it reaches the table, but also that less fuel is burned en route.

Over the past year, Dining Services has turned its attention to the seafood on its plates— thousands of pounds of tuna and tilapia, shrimp and salmon, mussels and mahi-mahi. After months of planning, the results are reaching the menu this fall. Students are seeing new species (swai, for example), as well as familiar offerings from more sustainable sources, such as Prince Edward Island mussels and shrimp caught in Maine waters.

“It’s part of our overall program in sustainable dining,” said David Davidson, managing director of HUDS. “We’re hoping we can come up with guidelines we can share with other schools.”

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