Sodexo and WWF push for more sustainable school meals

Sodexo has teamed up with conservation charity WWF to develop and pilot a set of 10 sustainable meals. The project is part of Sodexo’s partnership with WWF on LiveWell, WWF-UK’s flagship programme of work which aims to encourage businesses and policy-makers to facilitate the adoption of diets which are both healthy and sustainable.

The meals, which were developed jointly by WWF experts and Sodexo chefs, align both with LiveWell principles and objectives set out in Sodexo’s Better Tomorrow Plan to ensure they are nutritious, lower-carbon) and that the ingredients are responsibly sourced. For example, plant-based foods have to account for at least two thirds of the volume of each meal; refined grains are replaced with whole grains; and meat and fish has to have relevant certification, such as MSC or RSPCA Assured.

The meals, which will be marketed as Green & Lean, are being piloted in eight of Sodexo’s independent school contracts.

Following the pilot, Sodexo intends to market the meals under the Green & Lean brand to other clients in the schools and universities sector, and within its corporate services business, which provides employee restaurants to some of world’s biggest companies.

Sodexo UK and Ireland’s corporate responsibility manager Edwina Hughes said; “At Sodexo we serve around one million meals every day in schools, hospitals, workplaces, sports stadia, army barracks and prisons. In short we reach consumers in every walk of life. For this reason we have an important role to play in both helping promote healthy lifestyles and in doing so in a way that is sustainable.

“Green & Lean is an exciting development for us. We’re finding that consumers are more and more interested in the provenance of their food and want to make ethical, sustainable and healthy choices, but of course these options still need to be tasty and appealing.”

Nick Hughes at WWF added: “The food we eat – growing, producing and consuming it – has a massive impact on the planet. ”