5 things: Sodexo expands Humane Society partnership

In this edition of 5 Things, Food Management highlights five things you may have missed recently about developments affecting onsite dining.

Here’s your list for today:

Sodexo is expanding its collaboration with the Humane Society of the United States with new initiatives aimed at tackling climate change and reducing the company’s carbon footprint by focusing on increasing plant-based menu options on Sodexo menus at hundreds of universities across the United States. It is part of Sodexo’s overall strategy to reduce their carbon emissions 34% by 2025 and follows an internal analysis that shows that at least 70% of its U.S. supply carbon footprint was related to animal-based food purchases in fiscal year 2020.

Read more: Sodexo and The Humane Society of The United States Team Up to Tackle Climate Change With Plant-Based Meals

A bill introduced in New York City Council would give the Department of Health or another department the power to post health inspection grades in a visible place and if the grade is C or below, the Department of Education would need to inform parents. The proposed legislation is currently awaiting a hearing with the City Council’s Education Committee.

Related:5 things: Chartwells launches major plant-forward campus event

Read more: Bill would bring health inspection letter grades to school cafeterias

Chartwells Higher Education has announced a ten-year dining services strategic sponsorship agreement with the California State University (CSU) system that provides the opportunity for any of the 23 CSU campuses, or any auxiliary organization authorized to manage, operate, or administer food services on behalf of a CSU campus, to use Chartwells’ services. Chartwells currently operates dining services at eight CSU campuses, with operations beginning at the ninth campus in the summer of 2022.

After nearly two years to the day, Hackensack University Medical Center, one of New Jersey’s largest hospitals, is returning its cafeteria to its traditional role after converting it into a 74-bed unit to treat COVID-19 patients in non-intensive care beds. "Together, our entire team not only navigated the early days of the pandemic, they built a dynamic path forward helping thousands of  patients recover and also go home to their families and today, being able to reopen our cafeteria is a major milestone symbolic of our return to normalcy,” comments Mark D. Sparta, President & Chief Hospital Executive, Hackensack University Medical Center President North Region, Hackensack Meridian Health.

Related:5 tech things: Panera tests automated coffee brewing system

Read more: Hackensack University Medical Center Reopens Cafeteria Nearly Two Years to the Day the Hospital was Forced to Convert the Space into a 74-Bed COVID-19 Treatment Unit

California public school enrollment has dropped for the fifth year in a row—a decline of more than 110,000 students—as K-12 campuses struggle against pandemic disruptions and a shrinking population of school-age kids amid wide concerns that the decrease is so large that educators can’t account for the missing children. California enrollment stood at 5,892,240 when measured in the fall of 2021, a 1.8% decline, according to recently released state data, the first time since 2000 that the state’s K-12 population has dipped below 6 million, with large urban districts accounting for one-third of the drop.

Read more: California public school enrollment spirals, dropping by 110,000 students this year

Bonus: The new barbecue fusion blows smoke in the face of conventions

Contact Mike Buzalka at [email protected]