“Real food is anything that is produced fairly, humanely, and purchased locally or regionally and also is ecologically sound,” environmental studies and agriscience senior Amy Jacobs said. Jacobs is a member of the Ecological Food and Farm Stewardship club and volunteered with Food Day efforts.

The groups are collaborating with MSU’s Residential and Hospitality Services, or RHS, the department responsible for procuring food for the 35,000 meals served in MSU’s cafeterias each day. They want to calculate how much of MSU’s food is real food.

RHS Sustainability Officer Carla Iansiti noted that more than 50 percent of MSU’s food is purchased locally or regionally. Local food must come from with a 250-mile radius. Regional food is defined as being purchased from no more than 600 miles away.

However, Iansiti said that RHS does not know how much of its food is organic or fair trade. The department has long touted the ways they have moved toward sustainability, from buying only Michigan-made milk to using fair-trade coffee that is almost all organic.

In terms of what RHS would like to improve upon, “food traceability is a big one,” Iansiti said. “It takes more depth to look into, and we’re just not at that level yet.”

Volunteers collected surveys from The Vista at Shaw, Brody Square and South Pointe cafeterias, as well as the rock at Farm Lane. The survey asked students about the importance of real food to them.

Julie Cotton, the sustainable agriculture and food systems specialization student advisor, said a transition to more real food would not have to raise meal plan prices for students.

“What we’re trying to do is find a way to reduce costs somewhere else and use those savings towards more local and more sustainable food,” Cotton said.