Food Service contractor Unidine Pledges Support for local, sustainable health care food -- Unidine

FOOD SERVICE CONTRACTOR UNIDINE PLEDGES SUPPORT FOR LOCAL, SUSTAINABLE HEALTH CARE FOOD

Unidine is first dining management provider to sign HCWH's latest pledge

Newton, MA - 5/06/08: Today, Newton, Massachusetts-based food service contractor Unidine became the first food service management organization servicing health care to commit their support for nutritious, local, sustainable food by signing Health Care Without Harm’s (HCWH) Food Service Contractor Pledge. The Pledge is a commitment which outlines steps the Food Service industry can take to support their client hospitals' interest in local sustainable food, and steps it will take as an organization to educate, track and report its progress on adoption of nutritious, local, sustainable food.

Last year, Unidine was also the first food service management contractor to sign HCWH’s original Healthy Food in Healthcare Pledge. Not only does Unidine support healthy food in the healthcare realm, it also serves healthy, local and sustainable food whenever possible to clients at its corporate and senior services accounts.

“The healthcare sector is waking up to the essential need to promote nutritious, local, sustainable food production and to serve this healthy food to patients and employees,” stated Jamie Harvie, Coordinator of HCWH’s Healthy Food in Health Care Initiative. “While many in the industry promote themselves as sustainable, Unidine’s commitment sets a new threshold for the food service industry which we believe will bring a welcome layer of transparency and accountability to the supply chain."

By supporting the Pledge Unidine commits to a framework to support local, sustainable food, such as sourcing of rBGH free dairy, working with local farmers and community based organizations to increase the availability of fresh local foods, support for labeling of genetically engineered foods, and annual reporting on their progress.

“Unidine is demonstrating critical leadership in an industry that lags far behind with respect to the need to change, quickly and profoundly, the harm being caused by the nation's industrial food system," stated Marydale Debor, Vice President External Affairs, New Milford Hospital. “We commend them and urge other contractors to act as responsibly, together with the health care provider community.”

One hundred nineteen hospitals from around the country have signed a related commitment, the Healthy Food in Health Care Pledge. These include Hackensack University Medical Center, the fourth largest healthcare facility in the country, Oregon Health and Science University Medical Center, and Catholic Healthcare West, the largest Catholic health system.

In the US, food is transported an average of 1500 miles to reach its destination, contributing to global warming.
70% of antibiotics are given to healthy animals to promote growth and compensate for stressful growing conditions. This use promotes antibiotic resistant bacteria making existing antibiotics ineffective. 60,000 Americans die each year from resistant infections.
70% of all broiler chickens are fed arsenic.
University of Washington researchers have demonstrated that switching to an organic diet eliminates pesticide metabolites in the urine of children.
The 2007 American Public Health Association policy “Towards a Healthy, Sustainable Food System” urges support of environmentally sound agricultural practices to reduce contamination, resource use, climate change, in addition to improved food labeling for country-of-origin and genetic modification, and a ban on nontherapeutic antimicrobial and arsenic use. It recognizes the urgency of transforming our food system to promote environmental sustainability, improve nutritional health, and ensure social justice.
A 2007 California Medical Association resolution encourages hospitals to adopt policies and implement practices that increase the purchasing and serving of food that promotes health and prevents disease. Included are meat and dairy products produced without non-therapeutic antibiotics, meats derived from non-CAFO sources such as free-range animals, food grown on non-industrial agricultural operations such as small and medium-sized local farms, and food grown according to organic or other methods that emphasize renewable resources, ecological.

About HCWH

HCWH is an international coalition of more than 470 organizations in 52 countries, working to transform the health care industry worldwide, without compromising patient safety or care, so that it is ecologically sustainable and no longer a source of harm to public health and the environment. For more information on the healthy food pledge see http://www.noharm.org/us/food/pledge. To learn more about HCWH’s work on food and other issues related to health care www.healthyfoodinhealthcare.org.