OAKBROOK TERRACE, Ill. — To celebrate Food Day 2014, 352 hospitals in the U.S. planned to serve at least one meat or poultry item raised without the routine use of antibiotics, according to Health Care Without Harm (HCWH).
HCWH is focusing on antibiotic-free proteins this year in part because of studies showing a connection between the unnecessary use of antibiotics in animal agriculture and antibiotic resistance in humans. A survey conducted by the Consumer reports National Research Center found that 85% of doctors said they had diagnosed one or more patients with a multi-drug resistant bacterial infection in the past year.
“In order to solve the growing antibiotic resistance crisis in medicine we need to transform animal agriculture,” said Gary Cohen, HCWH’s president and co-founder. “Hospitals, like these participating in Food Day, can lead this transformation by using their purchasing power to serve healthier food to their patients and employees as well as drive healthy, sustainable practices in the communities they serve.”
Cohen added that if every hospital in the U.S. committed to serving only meat raised without antibiotics, “we’re looking at over 750 million meals served [annually] and $ 868 million spent on healthy, sustainably raised meat.”
According to the Food Day website, Food Day is a time for people to resolve to make changes in their diets and to take action to solve food-related problems at the local, state, and national level. “The typical American diet is contributing to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and other health problems,” states the website. “Those problems cost Americans more than $150 billion per year. Plus, a meat-heavy diet takes a terrible toll on the environment.”