Food Waste Intelligence

Sodexo, through its foodservice work at Good Samaritan Medical Center, in Lafayette, Colorado, is a national award winner in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencies 2021 Food Recovery Challenge competition. Sodexo won the award for its work preventing food waste with Leanpath.

“Our success with waste reduction throughout the COVID-19 pandemic is truly a testament to our team and their resiliency, consistency, and hard work,” said Natosha Jergensen, General Manager, Sodexo at Good Samaritan Medical Center. “We believe sustainability isn't just a trend, and we are committed to improving our efforts daily. We see it as our mission now and in the future.”

As the U.S. EPA explained:

"Good Samaritan Medical Center launched their Leanpath food waste prevention program in January 2020, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Leaders of Good Samaritan’s nutrition services department recognized the program’s potential, so they worked to engage the team in the process. They overcame multiple hurdles, including changes in their leadership team and hourly staff reductions. The most critical challenge they faced was continued turnover in the executive chef position, which Good Samaritan relied on to drive this program. With each change, the team continued to embrace the food waste prevention program because they understood the importance of this initiative. Each one of their chefs contributed along the way, and by the end of 2020, the team understood that regardless of what was going on at the unit level, they had made an impact. 

"The data indicated that the team had achieved their goals of engaging staff and leaders and reducing food waste. In 2020, they reduced food waste by 25 percent, which equates to 6,290 pounds in prevented food waste. The team has also saved around 5,242 meals, equivalent to preventing 20 metric tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere. They finished the year by embracing GSMC’s “Good Sam Goes Green” initiative, beginning to implement composting, and beginning the transition from disposable kitchenware to compostable or recyclable serviceware."

Sodexo also won several regional awards in the EPA competition, including for its work at Le Moyne college, Russel Sage College and Saint Peter’s University.