Hospitals need flexibility rather than hard rules for acquiring local foods, study concludes

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

by MATT MCINTOSH

Adding locally produced food to the diet of patients in our public hospitals and long term care facilities will require a flexible approach rather than mandating quotas, proposes a recent study.
 
The study was published in three parts, with the final portion being released this past February. It is the result of a three-year collaboration between the University of Guelph, My Sustainable Canada, and the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care, and looks at everything from variability in food cost to domestic trade disputes.
 
The study follows on the heels of the provincial government's introduction of Bill 36, the Local Food Act, which, if passed, would require public institutions to buy locally produced food. The bill passed second reading in May and has been referred to the standing committee on social policy for further review. It does not specify how much food should be locally sourced.
 
Ontario public health care facilities distribute over 132 million meals every year, but locally sourced food makes up only a fraction of that number.

"We would really like to develop that market for Ontario producers," says Paulette Padanyi, professor emeritus in marketing and consumer studies at the University of Guelph. "We just run into a lot of problems when we start pushing local food quotas."
 
One such problem is the direct cost of food. Long term care facilities operate on a budget of $7.46 per patient per day, while the food costs for hospitals – which are comparatively less regulated – can be even less than that.
 
Brendan Wylie-Toal, business development officer and program manager for 'My Sustainable Canada, notes that although local products are at times cheaper than others, “it's not always the case.” Prices can vary based on things like food availability or the location of the institution.
 
The study also identifies the inability of large food distributors to discriminate between local and non-local foods as a major barrier. That is, if the distributors cannot identify where a product is from, neither can the hospital.
 
As well, not all hospitals have the space or time needed to transform raw products into prepared meals and rely on large food distributors to do the processing.
 
"The lack of information available on the distributors’ end brings a number of problems on its own. We would need more oversight within the purchasing process, and our health care administrators would have to deal with even more red tape," says Padanyi, pointing out health care facilities already must comply with substantial regulations on things like food production, safety, and nutritional requirement.

Ease of access, policies, such as institutional networking and tracking programs, might help resolve the problems, says Padanyi. Establishing specific retail codes for locally grown food, for example, would allow distributors to keep better records of those specific products, and consequently, health care centers would then have a better idea of where to get local products.
 
In the meantime, many hospitals and long term care facilities do have policies that strive to provide "fresh, seasonal food."
 
"Each hospital and long term care facility is in a different situation, and has their own set of micro and macro issues," explains Padanyi. "It's complex, so the trick is to make sure these institutions have the flexibility to develop policies that work for their unique circumstances." BF