Penn State does measure the amount of food waste from food served at 9 Residential Dining locations across 5 campus locations: University Park, Harrisburg, Altoona, Behrend, and Berks.

Other campuses do not have enough student residents on site or enough on-campus residential population to offer university dining services. Therefore, we cannot record or report numbers for the entire university system.

In 2024, our scales were not working properly or consistently. Information for this period is inconclusive as Penn State Dining was in-between food waste tracking companies. Information will be available again for 2025.

The following information reflects only those campuses with dining service locations and recorded food waste data.

• According to Residential Dining’s LeanPath system (the system used to measure pre- and post-consumer food waste) in 2023 food waste totaled 264.7 tons/529,419.15 lbs/240,140.8 kg/240.2 mt

At the University Park campus, the food waste was sent to the university compost facility to be turned into soil that is used on university landscaping grounds. The Live On website highlights other Food Waste efforts of Penn State Food Services. These include:

• Fighting Food Waste: Our partnership with Winnow helps us track, measure and prevent food waste, making every bite count.
• Farm-to-Table Freshness: We collaborate with the Student Farm to bring hyper-local produce straight to our dining halls, ensuring fresh, sustainable and delicious meals.
• Composting for a Better Tomorrow: Leftover food and kitchen scraps are composted right on campus and used for soil enrichment and landscaping, closing the loop on waste.
• Campus-Wide Recycling: Recycling stations across dining commons and eateries make it easy to dispose of metal cans, plastic bottles, newspapers, mixed office paper and glass bottles responsibly.
• Local Vendor Purchasing: We prioritize local food suppliers, purchasing nearly 20% of our annual food from PA-based vendors, reducing our carbon footprint and supporting our local communities.
• Food for Those in Need: By partnering with the student-run Food Recovery Network, we ensure that surplus food is redirected to those who need it most.
• Less Plastic, More Impact: We have eliminated plastic bag usage in campus convenience stores and provide water bottle refilling stations across campus.
• Paperless Practices: We embrace digital communication to cut down on unnecessary paper waste.
• Know Your Food: Our Local Meal Specials give students some background on where their food comes from and the impact of their choices.
• Student Sustainability Coordinators lead efforts to educate peers and staff on everyday sustainable actions. Additionally, they ensure that our sustainability programs remain impactful, measurable and aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
• The EcoReps are student sustainability ambassadors dedicated to educating first-year students about sustainable practices on campus and at home. The EcoReps meet twice weekly and hold monthly events at the University Park Campus. 

Learn more about Penn State’s progress towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals HERE and on SDG 2 HERE.

Yes, all Penn State campuses have programs in place to address student food insecurity and hunger.

All Penn State campuses have food pantries on campus or in the community which operate as programs to address student food insecurity and hunger. They provide free food and operate similarly to a satellite of a food bank location, with food in the shelf that can be obtained. Most campuses offer either food pantries, food distribution services, and/or campus community gardens.

As part of a University-wide network of support, caring and compassionate staff members are available at every campus to respond and support students who are experiencing food and housing insecurity. A complete listing of resources on all campuses can be found on the Food Support and Basic Resources website provided by Penn State Student Affairs.

Each year, a news story about food resources is published for the campus community. For example, in the fall of 2023 Penn State News published Student guide: Top five food and housing security resources to know for students starting the 2023-2024 academic year. In 2022 Penn State News published A student guide to food and housing security resources at Penn State in January, and Student guide: Five food and housing security resources to know in September.

Food insecurity resources for student include:

• SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program, a federal program funding by the federal Farm Bill): College students may be eligible for expanded SNAP eligibility if they qualify for a work-study work program (even if not participating) and have an expected family contribution of $0 on their federal student aid determination form completed for the university.
• Project Cahir: This project was set up in the memory of a past student and can provide up to $100 on their on-campus meal plan account or LionCash+ account (university fund students, faculty and staff can opt to add money into and use to purchase food and other items on campus and in surrounding communities) for assistance with food purchases. Students can also request pre-packaged toiletries and textbook assistance.
• Student Emergency Fund: Provides short-term financial assistance to students who are struggling with debilitating financial circumstances of an unforeseen nature.
• Free Nutrition Clinic: Students can schedule a free appointment with a registered dietitian who can help with designing a nutritious meal plan within limited financial resources.
• Lion’s Pantry: Provides free food, toiletries and other items to Penn State students.
• State College Food Bank: Provides 12 regular food distributions per year to eligible clients.
• St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church Community Cafe: Provides a free dinner every Thursday from 5-7 p.m. Food is served to anyone and everyone who comes through the door. The meal is free, everyone is welcome, and donations are accepted, but they are not expected.
• Abba Java Coffeehouse: Provides a study spot with free self-serve coffee and tea, food and Wi-Fi (located in St. Paul’s United Methodist Church).
• Since 2020 Penn State has partnered with Swipe Out Hunger to raise greater awareness of student food insecurity and increase the impact of their efforts to raise funds to fight hunger across the University. In November of 2023 and April of 2024 students at every campus location had the option to donate $5, $10 or $15 when they pay for their meal at any residential dining facility, including mobile orders. Donated funds went toward Penn State’s Student Emergency Fund.
• The One Garden One Penn State website hubs all the campus gardens. The gardens on the Abington, Beaver, Behrend, Berks, Brandywine, Fayette, Hershey, Shenango, and University Park campuses provide a way to address food insecurity and hunger. For example, the Abington campus garden’s mission is “To feed each other, grow together, learn from one another, and take care of each other by cultivating engagement, education, and conservation.” and the Shenango campus garden’s mission is “To grow organic vegetables to help reduce rates of food insecurity for our students and others in our local community.”

Image source

A Schreyer Honors Scholar studying biological engineering was instrumental in the creation of the Schreyer Pocket Garden (miniature garden) a pilot program in partnership with the Student Farm Club, the Lion’s Pantry and the University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA). The garden seeks to address student food insecurity and allow students to gain hands-on experience with growing vegetables that will support food security at Penn State. See the April, 2023 article Schreyer Pocket Garden sets the stage for growing impact and the May, 2024 article Schreyer Pocket Garden grows in providing food, experience to Penn State students to learn more about the impact of the program.

Learn more about Penn State’s progress towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals HERE and on SDG 2 HERE.

Yes, Penn State University provides many different interventions to prevent or alleviate hunger among students. For example:

• Campus food pantries: All Penn State campuses have food pantries on campus or in the community. The food pantries on all campuses are dedicated to supporting food insecure students/staff on campus by support to students, faculty, and staff experiencing food insecurity. The pantries offer free, nutritious food and other essentials. A listing can be found on the Food Support and Basic Resources website.
• In 2024, the Food Recovery Network (FRN), started and run by students, provided 9,880 meals from 9,153 pounds (~4,150 kg) of food recovered from five collections each week from five campus dining halls, Beaver Stadium (University sorts stadium), THON events (student fundraising dance maraTHON event that raises money for childhood cancer), and the Bryce Jordan Center. A total of 63 volunteers gave 113 hours in the effort, donating to shelters, pantries, and other organizations in need.
  • The FRN received the 2023-2024 Penn State Student Organization Community Impact Award
  • An April, 2024 feature in Valley magazine (a student publication) profiled the organization’s efforts
• In January, 2024 Penn State announced it had been awarded a $60,000 Hunger-Free Campus grant to support student basic needs.
• Greater Allegheny’s Food Security Initiative includes a Pop-Up Market mobile food pantry, Meal Plan Support services, and Campus Grab & Go Stations which are strategically and discreetly placed in high traffic areas on campus frequented by students. Offerings included small containers of canned fruit, sealed containers with granola bars and crackers, and other snacks that are nutritious and easy to eat on the run.
• The Student Farm operates a Feed the People market stand at the student union every autumn, a pay what you can vegetable market.
• Market East on the 1st floor of Findlay Commons on the University Park campus accepts SNAP (Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program) payment.
• The Penn State Student Advisory Council on Student Poverty was formed in October 2021 as an initiative between the University Park Undergraduate Association and Student Affairs.
•  Results from a pilot survey, the Food and Housing Needs Survey results, reported in the May, 2022 Penn State News story “Penn State shares results of Food and Housing Needs Survey” – helped the University learn more about the prevalence of need across each Penn State campus, including Penn State’s World Campus which provides education online.
• Based on initial feedback from the pilot survey, thousands of students across the University completed the Penn State Food and Housing Needs Survey, which closed on Oct. 21, 2022. Results indicated that 14.6% of respondents identify “moderately well” to “extremely well” with the statement that they have “trouble securing enough food each day” and that “Over 14% of students (across all campuses) indicated that within the last 30 days they did not eat for an entire day due to being unable to afford food.”
• Student Care and Advocacy, a unit of Penn State Student Affairs, coordinated outreach to students at every campus whose survey results indicated a varying level of need related to securing basic resources. The outreach included emails to share resources and individual meetings to provide additional support.
• In February 2021, Penn State released the Food and Housing Security Task Force Report that included a baseline analysis of the issues and recommendations.
• Former University President Eric Barron and his wife Molly made a gift to establish a Food Security Endowment to support the purchase of University meal plans for undergraduates encountering food insecurity.
• Penn State researchers, focusing on Pennsylvania, analyzed survey data to assess the most recent levels of household food security, how food security has changed over the course of the pandemic, and how households in different income brackets have experienced the crisis. They also assessed how families have adapted to food insufficiency by accessing free food and released their findings in a Data Brief titled “Pennsylvania Food Insufficiency Reached New High at the End of 2020.”

Learn more about Penn State’s progress towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals HERE and on SDG 2 HERE.

Yes, all of Penn State’s dining halls offer vegetarian and vegan options. Customers can view vegan/vegetarian options, ingredients, and allergen information on the interactive online menu found on the Penn State Go app or on the website.  The graphic below depicts how options are communicated. Each daily menu includes all applicable icons to help diners identify what they can or cannot consume. It features vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, Kosher and Halal, and dairy-free food items.

The Live On site “Special Dietary Needs & Accommodation Requests” features “vegetarianism” resources and the Sustainability page lists other sustainable food choice options including hyper-local produce in the dining commons thanks to a partnership with the Student Farm. 

Learn more about Penn State’s progress towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals HERE and on SDG 2 HERE.

Yes, Penn State Campus Dining offers healthy and affordable food choices.

All dining halls offer “all you care to eat” stations with a range of healthy choices. Meal plan prices are affordable and available to students, faculty, and staff. Penn State faculty and staff are eligible to participate in an on-campus meal plan for discounted meals at dining locations across the commonwealth, effective 2 February 2023.

The Student Farm operates a Feed the People market at the student union every autumn, a pay-what-you-can vegetable market.

The Live On nutrition site provides information about dietician tips and about the Pawsitive Choice program that is designed to help eaters find the better, healthier, “Pawsitive” choice (referencing the Penn State mascot, the Nittany Lion).

The Student Affairs Healthy Eating and Nutrition page offers a number of resources to help students achieve healthy eating habits and maintain proper nutrition including free one-to-one nutrition counseling with registered dietitians and support services.

Residential Dining participated in University Wellness Days by offering special menu features and programming including “fuel for thought” menu items, virtual chef demonstrations featuring local products from the Penn State Student Farm to promote sustainable dining and living, and menu options feature local ingredients such as Pennsylvania mushrooms.

The Registered Dietitian’s Office, which provides nutrition education and support for Campus Dining operations at all Penn State campuses that offer on-campus self-operated dining, provides menu item cards featuring an allergen icon identification system. The menu item cards provide a Legend with icons that depict Gluten Friendly – made w/o gluten-containing items, Halal Friendly, Meatless, Contains Pork, and Vegan.

Campus Dining’s menu website features special diet indicators (meatless, vegan, contains pork, halal friendly, gluten friendly), as well as full menus, allergen information, calorie content and other nutritional information.

For students facing food insecurity or food shortages, Penn State has several systems in place to ensure they can eat affordably and healthily. These include:

• Lion’s Pantry: All Penn State campuses have food pantries on campus or in the community which operate as programs to address student food insecurity and hunger. They provide free food and operate similarly to a satellite of a food bank location, with food in the shelf that can be obtained. Most campuses offer either food pantries, food distribution services, and/or campus community gardens.
• SNAP benefits program: SNAP is the Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program, a federal program funding by the federal Farm Bill. College students may be eligible for expanded SNAP eligibility if they qualify for a work-study work program (even if not participating in a work-study job).  is for  and have an expected family contribution of $0 on their federal student aid determination form completed for the university.
• Student Emergency Fund: Provides short-term financial assistance to students who are struggling with debilitating financial circumstances of an unforeseen nature.
• Students at all Penn State residential campuses can participate in a “Swipe Out Hunger” program on campus. Students can donate any amount of dining dollars in $5 increments when purchasing a meal at any dining commons on their campus or through a Penn State Eats mobile order. All donations support the Student Emergency Fund in the form of emergency dining dollars. The Student Emergency Fund directly supports students at every campus location facing food insecurity, as well as additional needs including housing insecurity, homelessness and unexpected emergencies.

Learn more about Penn State’s progress towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals HERE and on SDG 2 HERE.

Yes, Penn State University provides access to knowledge, skills, or technology about food security, sustainable agriculture, and sustainable aquaculture to local farmers and food producers through:

• Penn State Agricultural Extension – A variety of sustainable agriculture programs share skills and knowledge to all 67 counties across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
• The Student Farm offers community outreach and engagement programs to provide diverse opportunities for engagement with sustainability challenges and solutions in food and agricultural systems. The annual Harvest Festival brings together more than a 1,000 people to the farm, hosts regular webinars, and a variety of other events open to the public.
• The Penn State Campus Gardens website provides information about vegetable gardens on campuses across the state that aim to educate the campus about our food system and engage the local community in the process.
• Penn State College of Agricultural Science – Ag Progress Days (short for Agricultural Progress Days) is an annual event that showcases new programs/technology for sustainable agriculture.
• The Food Resilience in the Face of Catastrophic Global Events Research Project provides access to food security, sustainable agriculture and aquaculture knowledge, skills or technology to local farmers and food producers through publications, presentations, and workshops.
• Research – Access to food security and sustainable agriculture knowledge has been made available to a local and global audience by Penn State professors.
  • 2024 publication examples include:
    • Winstead, D.J., & Jacobson, M.G. (2024). Storable, neglected, and underutilized species of Southern Africa for greater agricultural resilience. Plant-Environment Interactions, 5, e70004. doi: 10.1002/pei3.70004 | Link to PDF
    • Ransom, E. & Raymond. H. (2024). Disasters and catastrophes in agrifood studies. In A. M. Loconto & D. Constance (Eds.), Agrifood transitions in the anthropocene: Challenges, contested knowledge, and the need for change. Sage Publications. https://mitpressbookstore.mit.edu/book/9781529680157
    • Ransom, E. (2024). Disaster response and sustainable transitions in agrifood systems. Agriculture and Human Values  doi: 10.1007/s10460-024-10625-9 | Link to PDF
    • Siva, N. & Anderson, C.T. (2024). Nonindustrial pretreatment and enzymes can yield sufficient calories from biomass for human survival. Food Science & Nutrition, 00, 1–9. doi: 10.1002/fsn3.4358 | Link to PDF
    • Mather, T.N., Siva, N., Jauregui, M., Poudel, P., de Lima Brossi, M.J., Lambert, J.D., Di Gioia, F., Connolly, E.L., & Anderson, C.T. (2024). Nutritional composition of post-catastrophic foods. Current Protocols, 4, e1110. doi: 10.1002/cpz1.1110 | Link to PDF
    • Mather, T.N., Siva, N., Jauregui, M., Klatte, H., Lambert, J.D., & Anderson, C.T. (2024). Preparation and compositional analysis of lignocellulosic plant biomass as a precursor for food production during food crises. Current Protocols. 4, e1090. doi: 10.1002/cpz1.1090 | Link to PDF
    • Simandjuntak, D.P., Jaenicke, E.C., &  Wrenn, D.H. (2024). Pandemic-induced changes in household-level food diversity and diet quality in the U.S. PLoS ONE. 19(5), e0300839. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0300839 | Link to PDF
    • Winstead, D.J., Di Gioia, F., Jauregui, M., & Jacobson, M.G. (2024). Nutritional properties of raw and cooked Azolla caroliniana Willd., an aquatic wild edible plant. Food Science & Nutrition, 12(3): 2050–2060. doi: 10.1002/fsn3.3904 | Link to PDF

• • 2023 publication examples include (best accessed with Chrome browser):
    • Adverse childhood experiences and food insecurity in emerging adulthood: Findings from the EAT 2010-2018 study was published in the journal Nutritional Sciences
    • Do youth conceptualizations influence the inclusion of young people in sustainable agriculture intensification? Insights from Ghana and Malawi was published in the journal Environment, Development and Sustainability
    • Factors associated with food insecurity among the chronically ill population during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States was published in the journal Frontiers in Public Health
    • Maximizing duckweed biomass production for food security at low light intensities: Experimental results and an enhanced predictive model was published in the journal Environmental Challenges
    • Nutritious Supplemental Foods for Pregnant Women from Food Insecure Settings: Types, Nutritional Composition, and Relationships to Health Outcomes was published in the journal Nutritional Sciences
• 2022 publication examples include:
  • Food insecurity is associated with higher food responsiveness in low-income children: The moderating role of parent stress and family functioning was published in the journal Nutritional Science
  • Farmers’ Perception of Climate Change and Its Impacts on Agriculture was published in the journal Hydrology.
  • Meeting global challenges with regenerative agriculture producing food and energy was published in the journal Nature Sustainability

Learn more about Penn State’s progress towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals HERE and on SDG 2 HERE.

Yes, Penn State provides events for local farmers and food producers in order to connect and transfer knowledge by offering many different programs. These include:

• The College of Agricultural Science offers an annual “Ag Progress Days” (short for Agricultural Progress Days) where local farmers can learn more about new innovations and transfer knowledge/best practices. In addition to the in-person experiences Ag Progress Days includes virtual experiences featuring exhibitors and Penn State Extension programs through on-demand webinars and Public Cable Network television coverage.
• The College of Agricultural Science Extension Office offers free educational tools and programs to support local farmers, including workshops, conferences, on-site consultation, and on-demand access to articles, videos, and online courses.
• The Penn State Student Farm hosts regular events and webinars to provide information about sustainable agriculture.
• The Department of Food Sciences annually hosts a variety of annual courses including:
  • Cultured Dairy Products: provides participants with an overview of basic dairy technology and the manufacture of cultured dairy products, including buttermilk, sour cream, cottage cheese, yogurt, and cream cheese.
  • Mushroom Food Safety: focuses on the food safety risks associated with the production of whole and sliced mushrooms and control measures that prevent these risks.
• allinfoodz, a podcast managed by the Penn State Food Decisions Research Laboratory team, features a variety of topics including “Community-Driven Efforts to Reduce Food Insecurity” and “Rethinking Institutional Food: Local, Nutritious, and Sustainable?“

Learn more about Penn State’s progress towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals HERE and on SDG 2 HERE.

Yes, Penn State provides access to university facilities for local farmers and food producers that includes:

• Agricultural Analytical Services Laboratory‘s goal is to promote practical, innovative, and affordable solutions to existing and emergent issues related to nutrient management and environmental quality. It provides soil, water, plants, and biosolids testing programs and other agricultural materials. Tests include environmental soil testing, soil fertility testing, and plant tissue analysis and is available to all University faculty and staff as well as the general public.
• The Student Farm’s annual plant sale provides access to plant stocks for local farmers and food producers. It is open to anyone looking to grow their own food.

Learn more about Penn State’s progress towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals HERE and on SDG 2 HERE.

Yes, Penn State University Dining prioritizes purchasing products from local, sustainable sources.

The Penn State Food Services site showcases a list of all the initiatives undertaken by Penn State’s Housing and Foods department including “hyper-local” food features sourced from the student farm, the creamery on campus (which makes dairy products from milk obtained from cows raised on campus), and from the university meat labs (which produces meats from animals raised on campus).

Prioritization of local foods has resulted in 18% of all food purchase coming from hyper-local or Pennsylvania suppliers.

Local produce is provided to the dining commons through partnerships with the Student Farm and other local producers. Hyper-Local Food Suppliers Include:

• The Student Farm – A one acre, student-run farm at Penn State used to create and supply fresh produce for campus eateries.
• The Berkey Creamery – Primary producer of dairy products for the University. The Creamery makes and sells items made by the College of Agriculture including cheese, milk, and ice cream.
• Penn State’s Meats Lab – An on-campus meat processing facility that works with research and extension education (continuing education for the public) while also providing Campus Dining with fresh meats.

Learn more about Penn State’s progress towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals HERE and on SDG 2 HERE.

Yes, Penn State University provides many different interventions to prevent or alleviate hunger among staff. For example:

The Food Support and Basic Resources website offers a range of resources. Hosted by Student Affairs, the resources include campus, community, and national resource links such as:

• The food pantries on all campuses are dedicated to supporting food insecure people on campus. A listing can be found on the Food Support and Basic Resources website.
• The Lion’s Pantry is available to anyone with a Penn State ID (university faculty and staff as well as currently enrolled students).
• Connections to a nearby food bank:
  • Feeding America: provides a list of food banks that support food insecurity nationwide.
  • Pennsylvania food banks by county (PDF)

There is a Thanksgiving Basket Drive annually for “local families” which may include employees.

In addition to resources, Penn State has contributed to knowledge about food insecurity. For example:

• December, 2024 – Food insecurity and health-related quality of life among a nationally representative sample of older adults: cross-sectional analysis evaluated the associations between food security and multiple outcomes related to health-related quality of life.
• August, 2024 – Food Insecurity, Vision Impairment, and Longitudinal Risk of Frailty and Falls in The National Health and Aging Trends Study studied how food insecurity and vision impairment, which are linked, have been independently associated with frailty and falls to understand how they may together contribute to frailty and fall risk could improve insight into these growing public health challenges.
• April, 2024 – Infrastructuring Community Fridges for Food Commoning explored how the Community Fridge movement combats food insecurity and food waste. It consists of local community members sharing surplus food with neighbors via a shared refrigerator placed on a sidewalk. The study examined how community fridges practice information, human, and social infrastructuring work, as well as how their core values shaped norms for managing refrigerators and surplus food as the commons in local communities.

Learn more about Penn State’s progress towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals HERE and on SDG 2 HERE.