Sodexo, a food services and facilities management company with a strong involvement in supplying meals for universities and educational institutions, has established a collaboration with the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) to promote vegetable-based meat substitutes in menus.

The promotion of vegetable-based protein as an alternative to meat as a center-of-plate ingredient is consistent with the avowed vegetarian agenda of the HSUS and is consistent with Sodexo SGE initiatives to reduce the carbon footprint of services.

The press release announcing the cooperation with the HSUS includes the questionable statistic that 23 percent of 18 to 25 year-olds adhere to either a vegetarian or vegan diet.  This figure was apparently derived from an Innova Health and Nutrition Survey in 2021.  Guided by the speculative figure of the proportion of vegans among the clientele of Sodexo, the company intends serving vegan menu options for 42 percent of meals by 2025.

It is generally accepted that vegetable-based proteins are nutritionally inferior to pork, beef and chicken and on the basis of either the serving size or protein equivalent, are more expensive.  This reality is probably immaterial to Sodexo, since the cost of meal plans at universities is passed on to parents or is simply added to the loans amassed by students.