Sodexo to Serve Eco-Labeled Seafood, Improve Supply Chain Sustainability

Sodexo will serve Marine Stewardship Council-certified seafood at 11 Washington, DC-area locations and has agreed to use the Real Food Calculator to increase supply-chain sustainability on all Sodexo-contracted campuses.

The food services company says the following locations will participate in the sustainable seafood program, which begins this month: National Geographic, National Academy of Sciences, National Aquarium, The Brookings Institution, International Monetary Fund, Gannett, Marriott International, Sodexo Headquarters (Rio Café), Marymount University, The University of Mary Washington and George Mason University. Sodexo expects the program to reach more than 1 million customers.

Each of the participating institutions obtained MSC Chain of Custody certification, a traceability program that assures customers the seafood can be traced all the way back through the supply chain to the fishery. The 11 Washington-area sites will also display the MSC eco-label.

Earlier this year, McDonald’s USA became the first national restaurant chain to serve fish bearing the Marine Stewardship Council eco-label at all of its US locations.

In 2011, Sodexo announced a goal for all its contracted seafood to be certified by the MSC or the Global Aquaculture Alliance’s Best Aquaculture Practices by 2015. The target is part of Sodexo’s Better Tomorrow sustainability plan.

Sodexo is also a founding partner and board member of the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative.

Additionally, Sodexo has signed an agreement with Real Food Challenge, a food justice organization, to put in place sustainability standards for vendors and food producers for all Sodexo-contracted campuses.

The campuses will use the Real Food Calculator assessment tool, developed by Real Food Challenge student researchers and associated food experts. The standards evaluate food in four areas: local- and community-based, fair, ecologically sound and humane.

The agreement further sets up a process for students to collaborate with Sodexo managers, collecting and analyzing purchasing data using the Real Food Calculator’s web-based application and tracking tool. The resulting statistics will be used to demonstrate actual food purchases.

Last year, Sodexo announced it would ban pig gestation crates from its supply chains.