'Greener By Default' Hospitals Reduced Food Emissions By 22% With Plant-Based Meals

A catering company has reduced hospital food emissions by 22 percent over the last year with “Greener By Default” plant-based meals.

Sodexo UK & Ireland and its client partner Nuffield Health have reduced food emissions across 35 hospitals by making plant-based foods the default option.

While diners can still choose to opt in to meat or dairy, making plant-based options the default increases uptake, reduces meat consumption, and shrinks emissions.

Sodexo partnered with Greener By Default, the organization behind the strategy, in early 2025. Sodexo was the first hospital catering provider in the UK to adopt default plant-based patient dining, and adjusted menus to emphasize vegan options, which now make up 41 percent of offered meals. Meat accounts for just 18 percent.

Eighty-two percent of the menus are now meat-free. The company updated more than half of the available options, introduced new meals, scrapped the grill bar, and placed greater emphasis on plant-based foods overall. The scheme’s 22 percent emissions reduction is the equivalent of more than 100,000 miles driven.

‘The response from patients has been fantastic’

Sodexo has said that “high levels of diner satisfaction” were recorded throughout the pilot. The company noted that the average amount of meat served per patient fell by 14 percent, while the amount of plant protein served increased by nearly 50 percent.

“As the UK’s largest healthcare charity, our purpose is to help people live healthier lives. Plant-based food is highly nutritious, helps prevent ill health, and can play an important role in recovery,” said Dr Davina Deniszczyc, the charity and medical director at Nuffield Health.

“With our ambition to reduce our carbon footprint, this project gave us a unique opportunity to bring together both environmental and nutritional benefits,” Deniszczyc added. “The response from patients has been fantastic, with many telling us they feel encouraged to include more plant-based dishes in their everyday diet.”

Diner satisfaction and Greener By Default

Photo shows a bowl of porridge topped with nuts and blueberries. 'Greener By Default' Hospitals Reduced Food Emissions By 22% With Plant-Based Meals — Adobe Stock Sodexo says that diner satisfaction with the Greener By Default menus remains high

Data from the last 12 months shows that the Greener By Default strategy supports Nuffield Health’s broader goal of a 90 percent plant-based menu, which would improve patients’ health, promote inclusivity, and reduce its environmental impact.

“Our client’s ambitions of increasing plant-based options in patient dining are closely aligned to our own ambition to deliver 70 percent low-carbon meals by 2030,” said Neil Paterson, the operations director of health and care at Sodexo UK & Ireland.

In the US, Sodexo has reported similar successes with Greener By Default menus in hospitals, and a report from 2024 found that patient satisfaction with the default plant-based meals in all new New York City hospitals is at more than 90 percent.

“We started working with Greener by Default in 2025, and we’ve been delighted by the results,” added Paterson. “The pilot has shown what’s possible, and our aim now is to continue to work with Nuffield Health towards a menu that is 90 percent plant-based whilst maintaining standards and satisfaction.”

Last year, an analysis of 36 NHS hospitals found that there remained “significant untapped potential” to reduce UK healthcare facilities’ environmental footprints through menu changes. All analyzed menus served processed meats along with beef, lamb, and goat, and less than half had plans to emphasize plant-based foods.

Serving Up, a policy briefing on food procurement, found that serving plant-based meals in schools and hospitals could save the NHS millions of pounds each year.