Increasing local, healthy, sustainable food purchasing can help achieve Vancouver Coastal Health’s mission to “be leaders in promoting wellness and ensuring care by focusing on quality and innovation.”

Partnership to leverage purchasing power

Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) Public Health, Sodexo Dietitians, the Vancouver Board of Education, and Farm Folk City Folk have partnered with institutions from across Canada to strategically leverage their collective purchasing power. Ideas were shared to shift institutional spending to more local, healthy, sustainable foods that helps to improve the quality, taste, and acceptance of food served as well as supporting the health of those they serve and the financial health of local agriculture and businesses.

Offering meals that students, clients, staff and patients enjoy and eat helps them to build healthy habits and improve their well-being, which can reduce food wastage and hospital stays. Learn how you can help by reading Purchasing Power: 10 Lessons on Getting More Local, Sustainable, and Delicious Food in Schools, Hospitals and Campuses report.

Farm to school program

Local students, cafeteria and district education staff worked with their food supplier and dietitians to create delicious, healthy, local recipes that meet the provincial Guidelines for Food and Beverage Sales in BC Schools. The recipes were added to Vancouver school cafeteria menus and were shared locally, provincially and nationally through the Farm to School Vancouver Area Guide.

Sustainable choices with impact

Sodexo is now providing local, healthy sustainable food at all of their VCH acute hospitals. Dietary aides visit patients with iPads so they can order what they feel up to within their prescribed diet. Global News featured the pilot at Lions Gate Hospital. These innovations resulted in decreased food waste from the industry standard of 40% to 13%, resulting in more money to continue to improve the quality of the food including local, sustainable choices. Currently 23% of food purchases are from BC sources.

For the future

The Purchasing Power report that was produced from this work will help VCH collaborate and leverage food budgets at our hospitals and facilities to benefit the health of our clients, patients and staff, and help stimulate innovation and long-term growth of the Canadian economy.