Sustainable Food Procurement

The way food is produced, processed, distributed and consumed has significant impacts on human health, climate change, air and water pollution, and the viability of future agricultural production. Pesticide drift, field runoff, toxic gases from degrading manure, and diesel exhaust from transporting food long distances are all by-products of food production that contributes to public and environmental health problems.

Unsustainable agricultural practices account for 75% of all water quality problems in the U.S., more than 20% of green house gas emissions globally, and myriad cases of cancers, autoimmune disorders, and neurological diseases. Through current practices and policies, our food system encourages quantity over quality, negatively impacting not only the environment but also individual health. Nationally our country spends billions of dollars to treat diet-related diseases - $147 billion to treat obesity alone, another $116 billion to treat diabetes, and hundreds of billions to treat cardiovascular disease and cancers. Fortunately, institutions, individuals, and policy makers have the power to create a food system that promotes health rather than compromises it.

Hospitals have significant buying power as institutions. Their purchasing decisions have significant impact on the direction of the food system. Healthy Food in Health Care asks hospitals to evaluate the purchasing patterns of their food service department and shift toward sustainable options. By prioritizing sustainably produced food, hospitals, with their vast purchasing power and health authority, have the ability shift the food system in a more sustainable direction, improve the health of their patients, staff and visitors, and invest in the well-being of communities and the environment. Sustainably produced food is not just an absence of unhealthy inputs but more broadly defined as being:

• Healthy for consumers and producers
• Of minimal harm to the environment
• Providing a fair wage and working conditions to farmers and farm workers
• Respecting animal welfare
• Supporting and enhancing communities, rural and urban.

Healthcare facilities across the country are moving to the forefront of the sustainable food movement by developing and implementing creative strategies to increase sustainable food purchasing. They ask distributors and group purchasing organization to prioritize sustainability; they buy directly from farmers; and even grow food themselves! Increasing sustainable food procurement in hospital food service is an important way for hospitals to become community models for promoting healthy, sustainable food production and consumption.