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The Daily Tar Heel

FLO promotes local, organic food

A UNC student group fighting to bring more sustainable and locally grown food into the University’s dining halls is taking today — national Food Day — to raise awareness about its cause.

FLO (Fair, Local, Organic) Food is hosting events on campus throughout the week to promote healthy, sustainable and affordable food.

“One of the goals for Food Day is to support organic farms, and building partnerships between Carolina Dining Services and local farmers is a great way to do this,” said Alison Doernberg, a student coordinator for UNC’s Food Day celebrations.

“Bringing more sustainable food into the dining halls benefits both the farmers and the campus community.”

On Tuesday night, Rams Head Dining Hall hosted a fair trade-themed dinner with the help of FLO that featured foods like coffee, bananas and chocolate.

Last year, members of FLO submitted a proposal to Chancellor Holden Thorp asking him to commit UNC to making at least 20 percent of all food served in the dining halls “real food” by 2020.

And although Carolina Dining Services has broader standards for “real food,” the groups have worked together to identify opportunities to put more fair and community-conscious food into the dining halls.

Director of Auxiliary Services Mike Freeman said that last year approximately 23 percent of non-convenience store dining hall food originated within 150 miles of Chapel Hill, and Carolina Dining Services hopes to increase that percentage this year.

Senior Suzanne Fleishman, a member of FLO, said the group wants to highlight the current accomplishments of Carolina Dining Services this week and inform students about what it is already doing regarding sustainable food.

FLO is hosting a lecture tonight in the Student Union by author Jonathan Bloom, who will discuss campus food waste.

While most students think surplus dining hall food just goes to waste, Fleishman said, many don’t realize that Carolina Dining Services actually donates or composts the majority of leftover food.

On Thursday, FLO is hosting a farmers market, and Carolina Dining Services is working with the group to accommodate the farmers.

Freshman FLO member Marisa Scavo said she is happy with the steps Carolina Dining Services has taken.

“They listen to everything we say and make strong efforts to implement our ideas into the dining halls,” she said.

“We understand that we can’t change the dining halls into 100 percent local and organic food. FLO and CDS have to do the best we can to work around it for the benefit of what we believe in.”

Contact the desk editor at university@dailytarheel.com.

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