Oxford Brookes gets Fairtrade status

Scolarest has helped Oxford Brookes University to become the world's first university to achieve Fairtrade status. The accolade was given by the Fairtrade Foundation in recognition of the university's efforts to give marginalised and disadvantaged food producers in the developing world a better deal.

Scolarest ensures that Fairtrade products - including chocolate bars, tea, coffee and hot chocolate - are on sale to students, staff and visitors in all the university's cafés and shops across its three campuses.

"We identified a real demand from students at Oxford Brookes for a catering offer that encourages fair deals for third-world producers," said Mike Bond, managing director for Scolarest's universities division.

Scolarest, part of Compass Group, provides a range of catering services to more than 3,000 schools, colleges and universities.