WashU students who start off their days with a cup of fair-trade coffee can now accompany it with a fair-trade certified banana. (Of course, if they prefer water, it won’t come from a bottle, but from the tap as the school stopped selling bottled water recently.)

According to a story in Student Life, WashU’s student newspaper, the university’s food vendor started selling the specially-certified bananas in its cafeterias last week. Fair-trade certified bananas come from farms with good working conditions and fair wages. It also means farmers are paid a fair wage for the fruit.

About 400 pounds of bananas are consumed at the university everyday, the student newspaper said.

The change came upon the suggestion of the student group, Washington University Students for Fair Trade. Bon Appetit, the food service company the university uses, is eating the additional 15 percent in cost.

Bon Appetit already buys some of its food from local farmers — and hopes to do even more in the future. It also has began organizing periodical farmer’s markets on campus.

The next proposed change for Bon Appetit is to have its trucks run on biofuel from the company’s french-fry oil by this summer, the student newspaper said.

The Grade is the St. Louis region’s premier blog on education and child welfare. To read other recent posts, go to www.stltoday.com/thegrade.