Food service provider rolls out vegetarian initiative to US corporate clients, but says no immediate plans to launch movement in UK
By Jessica Shankleman
Toyota and the US Department of the Interior have become the latest recruits of the Meatless Monday initiative, joining the likes of Paul McCartney, Chris Martin and Sheryl Crow in efforts to reduce environmental impacts by consuming less meat.
Sodexo, a global food service and benefits provider, announced this week that it is now offering the one-day-a-week vegetarian menu to its 2,000 corporate and government clients in North America.
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The extension will almost triple the number of organizations eligible for Meatless Monday menus, as the service is already used by 900 of Sondex’s American hospital clients.
The company also plans to introduce Meatless Monday to colleges and schools in the autumn, and is planning a pilot programme for its senior living community clients later this year.
Commenting on Toyota’s decision to adopt the initiative, Will Nicklas, corporate manager at Toyota Motor Sales, said it would offer an easy way of helping the company meet its environmental targets and boost employee health.
“Meatless Monday has been successful here primarily because Sodexo helps our customers understand that it is not at all about becoming vegetarians or even weight loss. It’s about taking easy steps to guard our health and be good stewards of our environment,” he said.
However, Sodexo’s UK clients will have to wait a while longer before seeing the vegetarian menus in their canteens. A spokeswoman for the company told BusinessGreen that there were no immediate plans to introduce the initiative on this side of the Atlantic.
“Globally, it is on our agenda for a Better Tomorrow, but something like this is very much client driven, so we have to get clients onboard before we introduce it,” she said.

The not-for-profit Monday Campaign developed the Meatless Monday initiative in partnership with Johns Hopkins University in 2003, with the aim of promoting healthy food choices which have a positive impact on the planet.
Supporters argue that eating less meat can boost the impact that the agricultural sector has on the environment.
A 2006 United Nations study found that cattle rearing generates more greenhouse gases than transportation when measured in carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent.
The report said that, including land use and land use change emissions, the livestock sector accounts for nine per cent of CO2 deriving from human-related activities, and generates 65 per cent of human-related nitrous oxide, which has 296 times the global warming potential of CO2.
(Source: www.businessgreen.com )