Despite not making the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ top 10 list of colleges that provide acceptable means for vegetarians and vegans, University Housing and MSU’s cafeterias are doing a good job working to provide meatless options for students.

PETA surveyed nearly 4,000 self-described typical vegetarian students nationwide and followed up with analysis from 45 college food service departments. New York University is considered the No. 1 veggie-friendly school, according to PETA, which says nearly 20 percent of American college students are vegetarians.

Bruce Haskell, MSU’s University Housing food service coordinator, said the university’s 15 cafeterias try to provide meatless alternatives each day but run into demand problems. The department still plans to add cook-to-order stations for vegetarians next year.

The demand problem cited by Haskell is comprehensible and students should understand the difficulty of preparing and keeping small quantities of food in a cafeteria designed to create mass-quantity meals. It’s not efficient to produce what there isn’t enough demand for.

At the same time, those providing food services here should recognize and honor the demands and needs of students who need to eat in the cafeteria on a daily basis. And it seems they have been doing that to the best of its ability.

Given University Housing’s plans to expand veggie-services opportunities next year, it seems MSU’s department is striving to improve upon what it already provides with more as-needed food stations. That is commendable.

Despite not making PETA’s list, it seems MSU leaders realize the need to honor the choice of those who maintain meatless diets and, more importantly, those who cannot eat certain foods because of health reasons.

So long as Spartan food service coordinators understand and act on the need to improve veggie options, they should be commended for a job well done.