Tools and Resources

Newsletters

Read our latest Healthy Food in Health Care Newsletters:

• June 2013: Healthy Food in Health Care Newsletter
• March 2013: Food Matters for Clinicians
• March 2013: Healthy Food in Health Care for Facilities and Supporters
• December 2012: Food Matters for Clinicians
• December 2012: Healthy Food in Health Care for Facilities and Supporters
• September 2012: Food Matters for Clinicians
• September 2012: Healthy Food in Health Care for Facilities and Supporters

Contact us to subscribe to one of these newsletters.

Reports

• HCWH’s Menu of Change Report documents the progress of and establishes benchmarks for sustainable hospital food service operations.  First released in 2008, with follow-up reports in 2011 and 2013, the Menu of Change Report contains findings and analysis of a survey of health care institutions engaged in Healthy Food in Health Care (HFHC) work. The report also contains summaries of HFHC National Initiatives and Regional Projects, as well as highlights of model hospitals and HFHC Award Winners.

  • 2013 Menu of Change Report JUST RELEASED
  • 2011 Menu of Change Report
  • 2008 Menu of Change Report
• Emerging Local Food Purchasing Initiatives in Northern California Hospitals (pdf)
• Redefining Healthy Food (pdf), a Robert Wood Johnson White Paper
• Healthy Food, Healthy Hospitals, Healthy Communities (pdf), a May 2005 report by Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy’s Food and Health Program documenting stories of health care leaders bringing fresher, healthier food choices to their patients, staff, and communities
• Cultivating Common Ground: Linking Health and Sustainable Agriculture (pdf), a report by the Prevention Institute
• Ripe for Change: Rethinking California's Food Economy (pdf). On the surface, California’s food system is a vision of abundance and prosperity. But a closer look reveals a range of serious problems, including degraded ecosystems, obesity alongside hunger, an ailing farm economy, appalling farmworker conditions, and a distribution system that favors trade over local needs. Meanwhile, control of the entire food system, from seed to table, is being centralized within a handful of corporate giants. A new report by the International Society for Ecology and Culture reveals the connections behind these seemingly isolated problems. See the report summary and full report.

Fact Sheets

• Antibiotic Resistance and the Agricultural Overuse of Antibiotics Fact Sheet (pdf)
• Antibiotics, Animal Agriculture, and MRSA: A New Threat (pdf)
• Farmers' Markets and CSAs on Hospital Grounds (pdf)
• Feeding Arsenic to Poultry: Is This Good Medicine? (pdf)
• Food and Food Purchasing: A Role for Health Care (pdf)
• Health Care's Commitment to Sustainable Meat Procurement:
  Four Case Studies (pdf)
• Healthy Food in Health Care: A Pledge for Hospitals (pdf)
• Healthy Food in Health Care: A Pledge for Food Service Contractors (pdf)
• Healthy Food In Health Care: A Menu of Options (pdf)
• Hydrate for Health: A Call for Healthy Beverages in Health Care (pdf)
• Seasonal Foods: A New Menu for Public Health (pdf)

Policy Statements

• HCWH's Policy Statement on Antibiotics in Food (pdf)
• HCWH's Statement on Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) (pdf)
• HCWH’s Position Statement on Genetically Engineered Food (pdf)
• Sample Policy for Purchasing Meat with Reduced Antibiotics (pdf)
• Catholic Healthcare West Food and Nutrition Vision Statement (doc)
• Healthy and Sustainable Food Policy, a report by the City and County of San Francisco Department of Public Health Sustainable Food Policy, which applies to all County Hospitals (pdf)
• Toward a Healthy, Sustainable Food System, an American Public Health Association policy statement

Purchasing Guides for Hospitals

• Choosing Environmentally Preferable Food Service Ware (pdf)
• Food Eco-Labels: A Purchasing Guide (pdf)
• Guide to Poultry Applicable Eco-labels (pdf)
• Healthy Vending Criteria (pdf)
• Integrating Sustainability Requirements Into Health Care Food Service Contracting (pdf)
• Purchaser's Guide to Sourcing Sustainable Coffee and Tea (pdf)
• Purchaser's Guide to Sourcing Sustainable Poultry (pdf)
• Purchasing Guide to Sourcing Dairy Products Without rBGH (pdf)
• Purchasing Guide to Sourcing Food Without Genetically Engineered Ingredients (pdf)
• Sample Poultry Supplier Survey Questions (pdf)
• Strategies to Increase Sustainable Food Options Via GPOs and Distributors (pdf)
• Sustainability Certifications and Label Claims (pdf)

For hospitals participating with HFHC or the HHI Healthier Food Challenge, we've developed a Distributor Welcome Kit for you to customize and use to enlist your vendors as partners in meeting your local and sustainable food purchasing goals. Please read our cover letter for complete details, then customize the Distributor Welcome Kit (doc) to meet your needs.

Purchasing Guides for GPOs and Distributors

The following EPP Food Guides are designed for Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs) and national distributors to use to determine whether or not foods meet HCWH's sustainability criteria.

• Supporting Local & Sustainable Food Purchasing - Contract Conditions for Food Distributors (pdf)
• Suggested Environmental Considerations for Beverages (pdf)
• Suggested Environmental Considerations for Dairy (pdf)
• Suggested Environmental Considerations for Eggs (pdf)
• Suggested Environmental Considerations for Meat (pdf)
• Suggested Environmental Considerations for Oils & Shortenings (pdf)

• Suggested Environmental Considerations for Poultry (pdf)
• Suggested Environmental Considerations for Processed Food (pdf)
• Suggested Environmental Considerations for Produce: Fresh, Frozen, and Canned (pdf)
• Suggested Environmental Considerations for Produce: Grains and Legumes (pdf)
• Suggested Environmental Considerations for Seafood (pdf)

Educational Materials

• Reproductive Health and the Industrialized Food System: A Point of Intervention for Health Policy (pdf)
• Food Matters 2013 calendar, A Year of Healthy Eating (pdf)
• Food Matters Presentation: Health Impacts of the Industrialized Food System (ppt, pdf)
• Food Matters Presentation: A Clinical and Public Health Framework for Food-Related Health (ppt, pdf)
• Food Matters videos: View on YouTube or Download for use in your facility
  • Food Matters: In the Womb and Beyond
  • Food Matters: Clinicians Address an Industrialized Food System Gone Awry
  • Food Matters: Serving up a Menu of Change

Archived Webinars

• Antibiotics & Agriculture: Protecting Public Health With Your Purchasing Dollars
  Recorded May 22, 2013
  View the recorded webinar online
• Saving Antibiotics: A Clinical Perspective on Antibiotic Overuse in Agriculture
  Recorded May 16, 2013
  View the recorded webinar online
• Balanced Menus - Meat Reduction and Sustainable Meat Procurement for Health Care
  Recorded November 8, 2012
  View details and recording
• Local & Sustainable Food Purchasing and Policies in Healthcare
  Recorded September 13, 2012
  View details and recording
• Implementing Healthy Beverage Policies in Hospitals
  Recorded July 12, 2012
  and Rebroadcast with new Q&A, February 7, 2013
  View details and recordings

Food Matters Webinar Series

Clinical Education on Nutrition, Food Systems and Policy

• The Role of Physicians and Other Health Care Professionals in Creating a Healthier Food System
  Recorded November 10, 2011
  View details and recording
• The Role of the Environment and How to Promote Greener and Cleaner Food for Maternal and Child Health
  Recorded November 3, 2011
  View details and recording 
• Clinical Guidance to Help Your Patients Make Healthier Food Choices
  Recorded October 27, 2011
  View details and recording
• Obesity and Food Environments
  Recorded December 9, 2010
  View the recorded webinar online
  View individual presentations by:
  Ted Schettler, M.D., M.P.H. (pdf)
  Leslie Mikkelsen, R.D. (pdf)
  Judith Bell (pdf)
  
• Organic Foods, Pesticides and Sustainable Food Production
  Recorded November 4, 2010
  View the recorded webinar online
  View individual presentations by:
  Kathryn Gilje (pdf)
  Holly Emmons, RD, LD, MPA (pdf)
  Joel Forman, MD (pdf)
  
• Antibiotics Overuse: Why Healthcare Should Care about Agriculture Use
  Recorded October 7, 2010
  View the recorded webinar online
  View individual presentations by:
  David Wallinga, MD. MPA (pdf)
  Diane Imrie, MBA, RD (pdf)
  Robert Martin (pdf)
  
• Healthy Food in Healthcare: The Role for Healthcare in Food and Agriculture Policy
  Recorded September 9, 2010
  View the recorded webinar online
  View individual presentations by:
  Robert Lawrence, M.D. (ppt)
  Eecole Copen M.S., R.D., L.D. (ppt)
  Jamie Harvie, P.E. (ppt)

 

 

 

Tools & Resources

• Newsletters
• Reports
• Fact Sheets
• Policy Statements
• Purchasing Guides for Hospitals
• Purchasing Guides for GPOs
• Educational Materials
• Archived Webinars