Catering and Dietetics
Food is key to planetary and human health
How Is Climate Change Affecting Food?
The most significant way in which the health of the UK population will be affected by climate change is the national and international damage to crop and livestock production by extreme weather events. This is already pushing up food prices as supplies diminish, which can affect the choices patients make in the community, likely leading to increases in the consumption of calorie-dense, processed foods. These foods can be harmful to health and are linked to obesity, heart disease and bowel cancer.
For catering departments, crop shortages due to climate change of key ingredients (such as olive oil and wheat) can put further financial pressure on departments that already struggle to keep to budget.
For dieticians, recommendations to patients may be limited by what food is affordable, which can hinder recovery from illness. Patients may be pushed into poverty and forced to use food banks, which comes with significant social stigma and mental health implications.
How are Catering Departments Affecting Climate Change?
Catering departments have typically adopted the “Eatwell Plate” to develop their menu plans and focused on ensuring patients receive enough protein (typically from animal products). Over the last few years, our knowledge of the environmental impact of such a diet has become more apparent. Animal agriculture is the leading cause of deforestation worldwide and has catastrophic impacts on both carbon emissions and local wildlife. Around the world every year we clear an area the size of Wales of trees.
Scientists across the world have come together to design a diet that meets all our nutritional needs, and would keep the planet safe, known as the "Planetary Health Diet". If we adopted a broadly plant-based diet, we could free up an area the size of the US, China, the European Union and Australia combined and comfortably feed the world's population, whilst allowing nature to recover to fight against climate change.
Watch Sir David Attenborough talk about food systems below!
Can Plant-Diets Meet Our Nutritional Needs?
In recent years there have been significant developments in our knowledge of nutritional science, leading to the development of the Lancet EAT commission and guidance from the British Dietetic Association (BDA). The BDA state that a well-planned plant-based diet can be suitable for any stage of life. Many studies are beginning to show that plant-based diets reduce the risk of illness and improve general health and wellbeing.
Furthermore, excessive consumption of animal products can cause harm. Red meat consumption has been linked with obesity, heart disease, bowel cancer, constipation and many other inflammatory conditions. It is estimated the UK health service could save £18 billion annually if we were to shift to a plant-based diet.
Often Plant-based diets are cheaper than those with animal products. However, accessibility to plant-based diets can be challenging depending on pre-existing conditions, local area availability and personal circumstances.
What Can Catering Departments Do?
Change is rapidly happening across the UK with many public and private organisations, as well as local governments and councils adopting plant-based catering policies. Hospitals would benefit significantly from shifting to plant-based catering. Visits to hospital could be used as educational opportunities to both provide examples of nutritionally complete plant-based meals and educate on the health benefits of reducing meat consumption.
Working with local farmers benefits the local economy, reduces the air miles of food and ensures farmers are supported during the plant-based transition.
Naturally, shifting immediately from a predominantly meat-based system to plant-based catering can seem drastic. However, simply removing red-meat from the catering system as an interim measure can instantly cut the carbon footprint of a department by around 30% and reduces the risk of the health implications of excessive red meat consumption.
See also how your department can reduce food wastage. Excess food could be offered to staff, which would also help boost morale.
If you want inspiration, hospitals across the world are already making this transition! Check out New York, Denmark and Canada’s plant-based by default systems.
For More Information
Check out the Plants First Healthcare Campaign for more information and to join the campaign for healthier hospital food.