The Environmental Leader reports that the American Medical Association has approved a new policy that supports a healthy and sustainable food chain within healthcare systems at a recent AMA meeting in Chicago.
The AMA also plans to work with healthcare and public health organizations to educate their community and the public about the importance of healthy and ecologically sustainable food systems.
The AMA’s new Sustainable Food policy builds on a report from its Council on Science and Public Health, which indicates that locally produced and organic foods “reduce the use of fuel, decrease the need for packaging and resultant waste disposal, preserve farmland … [and] the related reduced fuel emissions contribute to cleaner air and in turn, lower the incidence of asthma attacks and other respiratory problems.”
The study also notes that industrial food production is a significant contributor to increased antibiotic resistance, climate change, and air and water pollution.
In addition to providing fresh, nutritious food choices, healthcare food services across the country are implementing new initiatives such as sourcing organic food and meat produced without the use of antibiotics, buying locally produced foods, and sponsoring farmers markets and food boxes for staff, according to the Healthcare Without Harm coalition.
More than 240 hospitals have signed the HCWH Healthy Food in Healthcare Pledge, which promote sustainable food systems in their facilities.
