Sustainability in Hospital Foodservice

Abstract

This research documented hospital foodservice sustainable practices, examined foodservice directors' perceptions and attitudes on sustainability, and explored intention to adopt sustainable practices. Results indicated that recycling fat, oil, grease, cardboard, and paper were the most common sustainable practices. Least common practices were composting and serving organic and locally grown foods. Sustainable practices differed based on director age, gender, registered dietitian status, region of the country, and number of foodservice employees. Perception of others (subjective norm), directors' personal sense of obligation (personal norm), and perceived control (perceived behavior control) had the greatest influence on intent to implement sustainable practices.

Sustainable Supply Chain Management Practices and Sustainable Performance in Hospitals: A Systematic Review and Integrative Framework

“…High-fat processed food, the use of non-nutritive additives, meat produced using antibiotics and hormones, obesity, antibiotic resistance, diabetes, cancer, food waste, and pollution caused by food transport are among the problems that current food systems face [88,89,91,92]. Hospitals have the potential to impact sustainability by addressing food issues, given their role as intermediaries in the market, their buying power, their responsibility for the promotion of proper nutritional habits, and the large number of people who frequent these organizations, between patients, visitors, employees, and the community [93].…”

“…In the reviewed literature, publications that focus on food sustainability show that recycling and avoiding the sale of bottled water are common practices, in contrast to composting and serving organic and locally grown food [88]. Reference [93] identifies 12 opportunities through which food practices may be addressed: procurement, catering contracts, menu development, pricing, waste management, infrastructure, staff training, information, education, communication and feedback, partnerships, and special events.…”

“…However, unlike Reference [90], positive outcomes in all sustainability dimensions are sometimes mixed. For Reference [88], the implementation of food sustainability practices overrides their costs, whereas Reference [93] finds cost to be an obstacle. Reference [91] concludes that not only is price a restriction on healthier food, but so too is the difficulty of preparation, staff involvement, and creativity to promote said meal in a market that is accustomed to and satisfied with fries and sugar-sweetened beverages.…”

“…Analogously, general metrics intended to reflect outcomes of the entire hospital, such as profitability, cost of services, and return on investment, are included in financial metrics. Moreover, environmental performance is sometimes converted into financial terms by quantifying actual and potential savings due to efficiency and conservation improvements in energy, water, travel, food, and waste [19,50,58,59,86,88,91,92,98], while social investment volume is used to economically measure social performance [72].…”

“…Cont.Food Percentage of locally and sustainably sourced foods procured, reduction in air emission/pollution from food supply, reduction in nutritional waste, and patient and staff satisfaction with healthy food choices provided [50,58,59,[88][89][90][91]93]. …”