Food
SMU is committed to supporting the transition to sustainable and safe food systems and promoting the adoption of diversity, equity and inclusion principles in our food supply chain.
Sustainable and Healthy Food Choices
We encourage our food and beverage tenants, and caterers to offer diverse and nutritious diets that are affordable, culturally acceptable, responsibly produced, and have a low carbon impact.
Check out the sustainable and healthy food options available on campus, and take a look at some best practices for organising environmentally friendly events and our list of recommended caterers for SMU organised events.
Indoor Farming System
We are growing our own vegetables on campus! Different types of leafy vegetables and spices are grown in indoor farming systems installed on campus. These systems make great use of small slivers of vacant spaces to not only grow an array of nutritious vegetables but also enhance indoor air quality and beautify the space. Harvested produce is given away to employees, contract staff, and low-income neighbouring communities.
What you can do
- Learn about the impact of food through our undergraduate courses such as "Food Cultures - Are We What, Where and How We Eat?"; "Food, Environment and Sustainability"; and "Politics of Food Security". Discover research being conducted by our faculty on sustainable food systems.
- Buy locally farmed produce and support the growth of our local agri-food industry. Look out for the SG Fresh Produce badges on packaging or displayed next to various fresh produce at supermarkets or in online stores.
- Choose to consume sustainable seafood species - 3 out of 4 popular seafood species consumed in Singapore are unsustainable. Look out for the Marine Stewardship Council label or the Aquaculture Stewardship Council label on seafood packaging.
- Better yet, get started on a plant-based diet with the vegetarian and vegan meal options offered by our campus food and beverage tenants. Eating a plant-based diet reduces your annual carbon footprint and provides myriad health benefits. It can even help you become an elite athlete!
- Support sustainable food and agritech startups founded by our students, alumni, and BIG incubatees such as Angie's Tempeh, an artisanal tempeh maker; Fogo Fungi, an urban mushroom farm; Nanka,a food tech company creating plant based alternatives with jackfruit; TurtleTree labs, a precision fermented milk proteins company; and Osiris, which provides sensor tech and AI analytics for urban farms.