Sodexo is first major contract caterer to offer RSPCA Freedom Food

The food and facilities management company is offering eggs, salmon, chicken and pork from Freedom Food approved farms at nearly 1,000 of its sites across the UK, including schools, hospitals, local authorities and workplace office restaurants. Sodexo is now able to give its clients and their customers the option of eating food with higher animal welfare credentials. Freedom Food is the RSPCA's farm assurance and food labelling scheme. It is the only UK farm assurance scheme to focus solely on improving the welfare of farm animals reared for food. The use of the Freedom Food logo is strictly regulated to protect its integrity. All suppliers are inspected by qualified assessors, and each product comes with assured farm-to-fork traceability. Leigh Grant, chief executive of Freedom Food, said: "Animal welfare is at the forefront of more people's minds than ever before when buying food. Demand for Freedom Food products has risen dramatically in supermarkets over the last few years, and we know people are also becoming more concerned about the provenance of their food when eating out. "So we are delighted that Sodexo is now a supplier of Freedom Food products, which means more people will have a greater choice of higher welfare food and more animals will be reared to the RSPCA's higher welfare standards." Michelle Hanson, commercial director, Sodexo UK & Ireland, added: "Farm animal welfare is very important to us at Sodexo and we are proud to have added products from Freedom Food approved farms to our procurement portfolio. The Freedom Food logo means that consumers can be confident that the animal has come from a farm inspected to the RSPCA's higher welfare standards."