Sodexo Offers Meatless Monday Option to Promote Health and Wellness

GAITHERSBURG, Md., Jan. 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of its ongoing efforts to promote health and wellness Sodexo, the world leader in quality of daily life solutions, has launched the Meatless Monday initiative nationwide, by promoting and adding the option of a plant-based entree to its menus each week. Sodexo expanded the initiative to its more than 900 hospital client accounts across the country in January 2011, following successful pilot implementations at a number of hospitals, schools and colleges. The program has also been made available to Sodexo's corporate and government accounts.

By spring Sodexo corporate and government clients will have menus and materials in place to support the program. This fall the program will officially begin in Sodexo-served colleges and schools, already more than a dozen have implemented Meatless Mondays. The company's senior living community clients will also pilot the program for residents and staff in 2011.

"Once people realize that vegetarian meals provide the protein that they need and are just as interesting, flavorful -- and fun to prepare -- people find them easy to integrate into their lives," said Shawn Fields, executive chef, Cobblestone Cafe, Johns Hopkins Hospital. In addition to the many meals containing meat, Chef Fields has been providing the Meatless Monday options to his 1,800 customers a day since April 2010.  

The not-for-profit organization The Monday Campaigns (www.mondaycampaigns.org) developed the public health initiative in 2003 with the assistance of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future. It is designed to promote healthy food choices that are also good for the planet.

A diet rich in whole grains, legumes, vegetables, nuts, and fruits along with a regular exercise program is consistently associated with lower blood cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, less obesity and consequently less heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer, and overall mortality according to scientific research reported in respected peer-reviewed publications including the American Journal of Public Health and Preventive Medicine.  

"Meatless Monday is based on the Healthy People 2010 report's recommendation for Americans to reduce their saturated fat intake by 15 percent," says Dr. Robert S. Lawrence, director, Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future. "Almost all of our saturated fat comes from meat and high-fat dairy. Cutting meat out one day week can help Americans reach the reduction goal with little effort."

"Sodexo is proud to combine our culinary expertise with the knowledge of our clinical dietitians to integrate meatless meal options that meet the nutritional needs of students learning in schools, patients recovering in hospitals, and employees engaging worksite wellness programs," concludes Nitu Gupta, vice president of brand management for Sodexo health care. "Meatless Monday provides a healthy and tasty alternative for people looking to implement a healthy diet change, which explains why it has been so popular."

Meatless Monday is another way that Sodexo emphasizes the importance of health and wellness in all of the communities that it serves. The program supports several of the 14 commitments in the company's "Better Tomorrow" Plan, Sodexo's roadmap to sustainability, including the commitments to promote varied and balanced food options and to develop and promote health and wellness solutions for our employees, clients and customers.

For more information about Sodexo health and wellness initiatives visit http://sodexocommunity.com/cmnty_en/citizenship/wellness/wellness.asp.

About Sodexo

Sodexo in North America

Sodexo, Inc. (www.sodexoUSA.com), a member of Sodexo Group, is a leading provider of Comprehensive Service Solutions serving more than ten million customers daily in corporations, health care, long term care, retirement, schools, higher education, government and remote sites. Headquartered in Gaithersburg, Md., Sodexo, Inc. operates in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, with $7.7 billion (USD) in annual revenue and 120,000 employees. The Sodexo Foundation (www.SodexoFoundation.org) is an independent charitable organization that, since its founding in 1999, has made more than $15 million in grants to fight hunger in America. Visit the corporate blog at www.sodexoUSA.com/blog.

Sodexo, world leader in Quality of Daily Life Solutions

Quality of Life plays an important role in the progress of individuals and the performance of organizations.  Based on this conviction, Sodexo is the strategic partner for companies and institutions that place a premium on performance and well-being, as it has since Pierre Bellon founded the company in 1966. Sharing the same passion for service, Sodexo's 380,000 employees, in 80 countries design, manage and deliver an unrivaled range of On-site Service Solutions and Motivation Solutions. Sodexo has created a new form of service business that contributes to the economic, social and environmental development of the communities, regions and countries in which it operates and to the fulfillment of its employees.

SOURCE Sodexo, Inc.