Redwood Shores, CA – Sodexo, a leader in delivering sustainable, integrated facilities management and foodservice operations, announced they will be switching the all-beef burgers sold to their K-12 school district accounts to the meat and mushroom Blend burger. This change supports better nutrition for students in more than 250 school districts and aligns with Sodexo’s commitment to enhance student well-being.
Lisa Feldman, director of culinary services for Sodexo Culinary Solutions, commented, “Recent studies tell us that kids are taking more fresh fruits and vegetable at school meals, but not necessarily eating them. In addition to our work incorporating behavioral economics principles into our school nutrition programs to encourage students to both take and consume more fruits and vegetables, Sodexo is also looking at ways to add produce to other things we serve like adding natural and nutrient-packed mushrooms to burgers.” Feldman added, “The mushrooms blend seamlessly with the meat making the burger absolutely kid approved – in fact, most students are either happy with the change or don’t even notice it. Also, parents are thrilled we are serving a healthier, natural burger to their kids.”
The Blend burger contains fewer calories, fewer grams of saturated fat and fewer milligrams of sodium compared to the standard burger for schools. Given the 7 million monthly estimated purchases at Sodexo cafeterias, the company estimates this move will result in a savings of more than 250 million calories, 38 million grams of fat, 15 million grams of saturated fat and 304 million milligrams of sodium from student meals each month.
Source: Mushroom Council