Tools and resources

Balanced menus recipes (Practice Greenhealth)

• Food Tool
• Food
• Food Service

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Antibiotic stewardship toolkit: Passing food purchasing resolutions

• Food
• Food and Beverage Purchasing

(Health Care Without Harm) Across the country, health professionals are developing resolutions calling for an end to the procurement of meat produced with the routine (non-therapeutic) use of medically important antibiotics, to preserve the efficacy of these drugs for human medicine. Health Care Without Harm has developed a toolkit of helpful resources for facilities. The toolkit includes a how-…

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Less Food to Landfill

• Food

Hospitals generate over 29 pounds of waste per staffed bed per day. About a third of health care's waste is comprised of food. A landfill is comprised of 21 percent food waste and between 30 and 40 percent of food grown in the United States, ends up as waste. One in seven are food insecure, meaning, they are hungry or at risk of being hungry. Food degrading in landfills emits methane, a potent…

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Farmers markets, mobile markets and community-supported agriculture

• Food
• Community Benefit and Wellness

(Health Care Without Harm) Farmers markets, mobile markets, and community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs promote access to healthy foods and can strengthen sustainable food systems by supporting local producers while improving the affordability of fresh, local produce for low-income communities. 

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Choosing environmentally preferable food service ware: Reusable, sustainable, and bio-based products

• EPP
• Food
• Sustainable procurement
• Sustainable food service operations
• Waste
• Guide

(Health Care Without Harm) To assist health care purchasers in choosing environmentally preferable food service ware, Health Care Without Harm has created this guide for food service ware materials, including a survey for manufacturers.

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Integrating sustainability requirements into health care food service contracting

• Food
• Food Service

(Health Care Without Harm) There are many opportunities for hospitals to improve patient safety, worker safety, and the overall health of communities and the environment via their food service operations. By implementing environmentally preferable purchasing and other operational and maintenance strategies in food service, hospitals can help to reduce patient, worker and community exposure to…

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Strategies to increase sustainable food options via GPOs and distributors

• Food
• Food Service
• Local and sustainable purchasing

There are many strategies a hospital or health system can use to increase the availability of sustainably produced food options via existing supply channels and relationships. This document offers several strategies and resources to implement.

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Health care procurement guide: Sustainably raised meat and poultry

• Food
• Food and Beverage Purchasing
• Local and sustainable purchasing

Significant health and environmental consequences are associated with industrialized meat and poultry production and distribution, including antibiotic resistance, and air and water contamination. This health care procurement guide, focused on meat and poultry, helps facilities start purchasing plans that take these critical issues into consideration and overcome barriers to identifying and…

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Meat and poultry product list

• Food
• Food and Beverage Purchasing
• Purchasing
• Sustainable procurement
• Sustainable food service operations

(Health Care Without Harm) We know it can be difficult to find products that meet your sustainability goals. We’re here to help!  All of the meat and poultry in this database are raised without routine, non-therapeutic antibiotics. They meet the criteria used by Health Care Without Harm and Practice Greenhealth. Chicken, turkey, beef, pork, lamb – we’ve got it all! Just click on the spreadsheet…

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Purchasing guide to sourcing dairy products without rBGH

• Food
• Food and Beverage Purchasing
• Purchasing
• Sustainable procurement
• Sustainable food service operations
• Guide

(Health Care Without Harm) Purchasers can take the following steps to source dairy products produced without the use of the dairy drug recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH generally referred to as BGH, also called rBST or Posilac (the brand name of the drug).

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