Des Moines, IA - Leading food security advocates from throughout the US and Canada will meet to discuss strategies for taking advantage of the current surge in interest among policymakers and the public for healthy and local foods. The role of health care reform in driving change in the food system is just one example of a topic to be discussed at the conference.

"Sodexo is pleased to continue its sponsorship of the Community Food Security Coalition's annual conference," said Arlin Wasserman, Sodexo's vice president for sustainability & corporate social responsibility. "We are committed to fostering a more sustainable food system and this conference is an important source of dialogue on how to promote healthy and sustainable food choices."

In addition to the numerous panels and workshops, the conference seeks to "walk the talk" by minimizing food waste and serving Iowa-grown or raised products. Organizers see celebration of the gift of food?an expression of relationships between people, land, and animals - as an important element of food security.

"Obesity costs our country $147 billion per year ," said Andy Fisher, executive director of the Community Food Security Coalition. "Increasing access to healthy affordable food is an important strategy to reducing obesity and its costs to the nation. CFSC sponsors annual conferences as a tool for sharing information among community leaders who helping to build healthy farms, communities, landscapes and individuals."

Sodexo, Inc. (www.sodexoUSA.com) is a leading integrated facilities management services company in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, with $7.7 billion (USD) in annual revenue and 120,000 employees. Sodexo serves more than ten million customers daily in corporations, health care, long term care and retirement centers, schools, college campuses, government, and remote sites. Sodexo, Inc., headquartered in Gaithersburg, Md., is a member of Sodexo Group, and funds all administrative costs for the Sodexo Foundation (www.SodexoFoundation.org), an independent charitable organization that, since its founding in 1999, has made more than $11 million in grants to fight hunger in America. Visit the corporate blog at www.sodexoUSA.com/blog.

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