Tools and resources

Get started guide: Healthy food and beverage environments

• Guide
• Sustainable food service operations
• Food

Hospital food service often mirrors general societal food consumption patterns.  However, the health mission and large purchasing power of hospitals make them excellent models and drivers for healthier food environments and systems. There is an emerging understanding that the “health” of a food choice is a combination of the nutritional benefits is provides, and the way in which that food was…

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Advocate Health Care: Food resolution antibiotics

• Food
• Antimicrobial
• EPP
• Purchasing
• Advocate Health Care
• Exemplary Document

While Advocate has a robust antimicrobial stewardship program for prescribing practices, the organization continues to purchase meat, poultry, seafood and dairy products that are produced with large amounts of non-therapeutic antibiotics. Their goal is to adopt a system-wide food procurement policy that includes the preferential purchasing of meat, poultry, seafood, and dairy products produced…

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Creating healthy retail food environments in health care facilities

• Food
• Food Service

Hospital workers experience an 8.6 percent higher burden of illnesses such as diabetes, congestive heart failure, hypertension, and obesity than the general U.S. workforce. Although patient meals are carefully calibrated for their nutritional profile and tailored for specific diets, food and beverages sold in hospital retail settings are often out of line with dietary recommendations. There are…

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University of Washington Medical Center: Food resolution antibiotics

• Food
• Antibiotics
• Exemplary Document
• University of Washington
• Exemplary Document

Antibiotic resistance directly impacts patient care in the hospital setting as an increasing number of hospital-acquired infections are now caused by highly resistant bacteria. This threat is growing in healthcare due to the widespread use of antibiotics, much of which is given needlessly and non-therapeutically to animals intended for food. University of Washington Medical Center is trying to …

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Purchasing oils and shortenings

• Food
• Purchasing
• Local and sustainable purchasing
• Sustainable procurement
• Guide

Questions to ask suppliers and to take into consideration when making purchasing decisions about oils and shortenings. 

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Kaiser Permanente: Sustainable food policy

• Food
• Environmental Nutrition
• Food Service
• Exemplary Document
• Kaiser Permanente

This is a sustainable food policy for Kaiser Permanente Health System.  Kaiser Permanente aspires to improve the health of our members, employees, our communities and the environment by increasing access to fresh, healthy food in and around KP facilities. Kaiser Permanente supports food systems that are ecologically sound, economically viable and socially responsible by the way food is purchased…

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Purchasing processed food

• Food
• Purchasing
• Local and sustainable purchasing
• Sustainable procurement

Use one or more of the suggested environmental disclosure questions in your RFI/RFP to help inform your purchasing decisions around processed food.

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Washington Hospital and Healthcare: Sustainable food policy

• Food
• Environmental Nutrition
• Food Service
• Exemplary Document
• Washington Hospital

This is a sustainable food policy from Washington Hospital and Healthcare. In accordance with Washington Hospital Healthcare System’s Statement of Environmental Goals, we will strive to be an environmental leader in a manner that protects environmental and human health. In establishing a healthy and sustainable food policy, Washington Hospital recognizes its responsibility to carry out its…

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Purchasing fresh, canned, and frozen produce

• Food
• Purchasing
• Local and sustainable purchasing
• Local Food
• Sustainable procurement
• Guide

Questions to ask suppliers and to take into consideration when making purchasing decisions about fresh, canned, and frozen produce. 

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University of Washington Medical Center: Sustainable food services policy

• Food
• Environmental Nutrition
• Food Service
• Exemplary Document
• University of Washington Medical Center

This is a sustainable food services policy from the University of Washington Medical Center. Implicit in the University of Washington Medical Center’s (UWMC) mission statement is its “commitment to the ongoing health of the people of the region.” This is a commitment to the wellbeing of UWMC patients, staff, visitors, students, the City of Seattle and the broader Northwest community it serves.…

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