Sustainable Event Planning Guide
Food & Beverage
Food & Beverage
Globally, agriculture accounts for 70% of all water consumption and is a significant cause of deforestation. Sustainably produced food is an important way to reduce our impact on the environment. Food miles from flying fresh produce from one part of the world to another is also incurs carbon footprint, as flights contribute to global carbon emissions. Therefore, sourcing for produce locally or regionally helps further reduce our impact on the environment.
Fair farming practices such as fair wages, workers’ basic rights, safe and healthy work environments, preventing discrimination and ensuring no child labour, are issues that still exist today in agricultural countries.
Food waste is another pressing issue today. Caterers that do their part to reduce food waste are essential to sustainable events.
Use these guidelines in selecting a sustainable Food & Beverage caterer:
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Get an accurate estimate of the number of people attending to avoid over-ordering
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Support the use of local, regional and organic foods, where possible
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Biodegradable food containers for all packed food
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Offer a selection of organic wines
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Offer Fair Trade or organic certified Tea / Coffee / Chocolates
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Offer sustainable seafood choices on all menus – ASC or MSC certified seafood
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Provide menus with more plant-based (vegetarian) options
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Able to indicate the sources of food on menu where possible
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Say NO to Shark’s Fin soup
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Avoid red meat which has a higher environmental impact
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Ask caterers if they use sustainable palm oil e.g. RSPO certified palm oil
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No bottled water
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Avoid packaged foods e.g individually wrapped cookies, sugar sachets, condiments and seasonings
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Reusable cutlery
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Recycle cooking oil
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Energy and water efficient kitchen equipment
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Actively avoiding choices which are unethical or environmentally damaging
Healthful eating which benefits the environment.
Sustainably sourced seafood at Responsible Business Forum 2017 held at MBS.
