How to green food services in European healthcare
Our current food system is unsustainable and must be transformed if it is to support a low-carbon, sustainable future. The public procurement of food is a key driver in this important transformation connecting production systems with consumption patterns and behaviours.
Hospitals and healthcare facilities in Europe face many challenges when procuring food products that are organic, environmentally responsible, or fair trade as part of a sustainable food strategy. However, many are ready to face these challenges and engage with new models of purchasing and consumption to contribute to a safer, just, sustainable, and prosperous future.
Released today, HCWH Europe’s latest Sustainable Food publication, How to green food services in European healthcare provides case studies of such European healthcare facilities developing sustainable food procurement strategies. Along with a brief analysis of the European Commission’s Green Public Procurement (GPP) Criteria, this guide provides recommendations to support European healthcare providers implementing sustainable food procurement strategies.
With supporting case studies from Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Spain, and the UK, we identify actions that can be taken at all stages of the procurement process to improve sustainability and highlight GPP criteria most relevant to European healthcare providers.
Sustainable food is healthy food – we must leverage healthcare’s purchasing power to decarbonise the healthcare supply chain through low-carbon energy sources, as well as more plant-based, sustainable, and locally grown food.
