Chiang Mai University (CMU) has policies to ensure that food on campus is sustainably farmed, in support of Sustainable Development Goal 15 (Life on Land). The CMU policy in Food Preparation and Consumption for Quality, Safety and Sustainable Development B.E.2566 was annouced on 30 October 2023 by the President. It applies to every food outlet on CMU campuses and was in force throughout 2025.
Sustainably farmed ingredients (Clause1). Campus food operators should source quality ingredients with consumers' health in mind:
1. Meat and animal products should come from farms that follow Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), be cut and packed in licensed slaughterhouse, be sold in clean premises, and be traceable to their source to show they are free of drug and chemical residues.
2. Seafood and processed aquatic products should come from legal fisheries, with no child labour and no labour exploitation.
3. Fruit and vegetables should be seasonal, locally sourced and grown under Good Agricultural Practices.
Food safty (Clause2). Operators should follow food sanitation standards at every step, from cleaning and storage to cooking and sale, and pass inspection under the CMU Food Safety programme (Food Safety CMU).
Less waste (Clause3). The University runs campaigns to reduce food waste in its canteens. Operators are required to encourage diners to take only what they will eat, manage food waste in environmentally friendly ways, send used cooking oil for reuse as renewable energy, and use packaging that biodegrades quickly. They should also record and report the amount of food waste and used cooking oil they produce.
How CMU puts the policy into practice.
- The Agricultural Product Tracebility Unit of the CMU Faculty of Agriculture keeps traceability records for produce from the Faculty's farm and from partner farmers. Buyers scan QR code on the package to see the source farm, the production steps and the harvest dates.
- Under the project "Developing the University Farm for Safe Food Crop Production under the BCG Model" , the Faculty of Agriculture and CMU's Integrated Biomass Management Centre grow safe produce at the Mae Hia Agricultural Research, Demonstration and Training Centre. The produce is quality-checked, entered in the traceability database and sold to food operators on campus, as well as through safe-food markets and online. In its second year (2023), the project brought together the Faculty of Agriculture, the Faculty of Agro-Industry, the Energy Research and Development Institute-Nakornping (ERDI), the CMU Science and Technology Park (STeP) and local safe-food market group. Cattle manure from a demonstration barn was turned into biogas, and the residue fertilised pesticide-free sweet corn.
Sources
- Chiang Mai University. Annoucement: Policy on Food Preparation and Consumption for Quality, Safety and Sustainable Development B.E.2566 (2023). 30 Octover 2023.