Sodexo to add carbon labelling to menus at over 300 UK sites

Sodexo is to roll out carbon labelling to menus at more than 300 of its sites in the UK and Ireland by the end of 2024.

The contact caterer said there was a growing expectation among its customers that dishes would have a low carbon footprint.

One in five people said they actively seek out food products and places to eat that include carbon labelling on menus, according to a survey of 2,278 people commissioned by Sodexo.

This almost doubled to 39% among the 18-24 age group, but 60% of people surveyed said they could not recall ever having seen carbon labelling on food products on menus.

However, a growing number of hospitality businesses have introduced carbon labelling on menus, including BM, Benugo, Wahaca, Compass Group, and Amadeus.

Sodexo employs around 30,000 people across the education, sports and leisure, healthcare, government, business and industry and defence sectors. Its chefs have worked to reformulate recipes and create new menus to meet the group's target that 70% of its main dishes will be certified as low carbon by 2023.

While a universally recognised standard for a low carbon meal doesn't currently exist, Sodexo's research with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has created its own definition as a meal which generates 0.9kgCO2 or less during its production.

Sodexo has been working with Eaternity, a platform which calculates the carbon footprint of dishes, to help meet its target.

Lisa Huggins, food service sustainable diets manager at WWF, said: "There is a huge opportunity for food businesses like Sodexo to help address this challenge by enabling people to make healthier, sustainable food choices."