Sodexo has signed a worldwide agreement with Marine Stewardship Council for wild caught fish

Sodexo has signed a worldwide agreement with the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) for wild caught fish with the view to:

 promoting MSC-certified seafood across the 80 countries where it operates and

 maximizing awareness and collaboration with both our Clients and Consumers.

By committing to source sustainable fish and seafood, Sodexo will actively contribute to reversing the decline of living marine resources and will help protect marine biodiversity.

Sodexo's Sustainable Seafood Initiative is part of the company's Better Tomorrow Plan*, the company's global roadmap for sustainability and its five-part global seafood strategy to:

 maintain a wide variety of species in Sodexo's catalogues and menus

 ban species at risk and implement control measures for others

 use eco-standards or labels

 set up supply for sustainable aquaculture

 develop sourcing according to a collaboration with WWF.

Damien Verdier, Sodexo Group Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer said: "Sodexo is the first foodservices company to have a worldwide agreement with MSC for wild caught fish. Under this initiative, Sodexo will continue to work for a collaborative climate to improve fisheries management, promoting awareness of sustainability issues and encouraging suppliers, partners and clients to participate in the MSC program and support sustainable seafood practices."

Initiatives already taken by Sodexo to promote MSC-certified seafood include:

 becoming the first foodservices company in the Netherlands to obtain the MSC eco-label and certification in 2009;

 certifying 1,000 sites in the UK and Ireland with MSC;

 being assessed by Bureau Veritas Certification and complying with MSC Chain of Custody requirements in France. Sodexo in France sources certified MSC products such as cod (Pacific), pollock (Alaska), hoki (New Zealand) at the clients' sites where it operates.

Nicolas Guichoux, Regional Director for Europe at the MSC, said: "We are delighted to see one of world's largest foodservice companies make such a commitment to certified sustainable seafood. Their leadership will contribute to transform the global seafood market to a sustainable basis, which is also MSC's top priority."

* The commitment to source sustainable seafood is one of 14 Better Tomorrow commitments to protect the environment; improve nutrition, health & wellness; and support for local communities.

On the 8th of June 2011, Sodexo and MSC will jointly celebrate the World Oceans day at the clients' sites where Sodexo operates to promote public awareness concerning sustainable fish and seafood.

About Sodexo

Sodexo, world leader in Quality of Daily Life Solutions Quality of Life services play an important role in the progress of individuals and the performance of organizations. Based on this conviction, Sodexo serves as the strategic partner for companies and institutions that place a premium on performance and well-being, as it has since Pierre Bellon founded the company in 1966. Sharing the same passion for service, Sodexo's 380,000 employees, in 80 countries design, manage and deliver an unrivaled range of On-site Service Solutions and Motivation Solutions. Sodexo has created a new form of service business that contributes to the economic, social and environmental development of the communities, regions and countries in which it operates and to the fulfillment of its employees.

About MSC

MSC mission is to use its eco-label and fishery certification programme to contribute to the health of the

world's oceans:

• by recognising and rewarding sustainable fishing practices
• by influencing the choices people make when buying seafood
• by working with our partners to transform the seafood market to a sustainable basis International NGO since 1999

Ecolabel for well managed and sustainable fisheries

Developed the only internationally recognised FAO consistent ecolabel for wild capture fisheries.