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Food services and facilities management firm Sodexo announced plans of its Canada branch to change its menus to serve plant-based meals. In partnership with animal protection organisation Humane Society International(HSI) in Canada, Sodexo Canada will serve the new meals across 200 locations in the country.
Through its collaboration with HSI/Canada, France-based Sodexo Canada signed the Forward Food Pledge, thus committing to switch 20% of its protein purchases to plant-based ones in the next few years. This plan aims to help improve animal welfare and human health.
HSI/Canada’s Support
To achieve this, HSI/Canada will back the company by offering Sodexo Canada’s team—plant-based culinary training, and support them in recipes and menu development.
The company has been providing food in Canada for more than 40 years, serving around 1 million consumers every day.
“Health and wellness are at the heart of our diverse food offer and increases awareness to improving animal welfare,” sustainability manager at Sodexo Canada, Davide Del Brocco said in a statement. “Together with Humane Society International/Canada we have refreshed our strategy to bring our teams the tools they need through training and engagement, data analysis and responsible sourcing strategies to achieve our commitment to reducing emissions and providing increased healthy and delicious plant-based menu offerings.”
Forward Food Pledge
HSI/Canada’s Forward Food pledge is an effort to support businesses across Canada to increase their plant-based offerings which is better for the planet and the animals. It helps these companies in its marketing and communications. It will conduct educational sessions about sustainability, health and animal welfare benefits of plant-based diets. In addition, it will organise greenhouse gas emissions assessments.
We are delighted to be partnering with Sodexo which will save an estimated 510,000 animals each year, reduce their GHGs, improve the health of their clients and meet Canadians’ unprecedented demand for delicious, environmentally and animal-friendly food choices
Riana Topan, campaign manager for HSI/Canada
Senior manager of culinary development of the company, Kyle Mason said that Sodexo Canada’s ‘Our Love of Food’ program explores the creativity of the chefs and utilises the resources of the Corporate Responsibility team into the menu development process. ”This synergy with HSI/Canada’s Forward Food program enables us to achieve our mutual goals of creating menus that speak to the needs of Canadians and drive sustainable business practices.”
Apart from this partnership, Sodexo has set up the Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation which has secured over US$3 million to combat hunger. To date, it has provided over 1 million meals to at-risk youth across Canada.
510,000 Animals Saved Each Year
Campaign manager for HSI/Canada, Riana Topan said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Sodexo to increase their plant-based and plant-forward menu options, which will save an estimated 510,000 animals each year, reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, improve the health of their clients and meet Canadians’ unprecedented demand for delicious, environmentally and animal-friendly food choices. Sodexo is setting a meaningful example for the foodservice industry in Canada by taking the Forward Food Pledge for every one of its accounts that serve food and working to reduce its use of animal proteins by 20% over the next two years.”
Canada Sodexo needs to fulfil its 20% commitment by December 31, 2022.
In June of last year, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau announced that the federal government will invest CAD $100 million (US$74 million) into plant-based protein innovation. With respect to Canada-based Merit Functional Foods receiving this investment, Trudeau said: “As people around the world start eating more plant-based products, we have an opportunity to bring together Canadian innovation and Canadian crops, and a chance to create good, well-paying jobs.”
Lead image courtesy of Daria Shevtsova/Pexels.
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