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Campaigners demand mandatory nutritional standards for hospital food

BMJ 2013; 346 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.f1251 (Published 25 February 2013) Cite this as: BMJ 2013;346:f1251
  1. Matthew Limb
  1. 1London

Campaigners have accused successive UK governments of “wasting” more than £54m (€62m; $82m) on “failed” voluntary schemes to improve hospital food over the past 21 years when what are needed are mandatory nutritional standards.

Sustain, an alliance of organisations that campaigns on food and farming matters, listed 21 ineffective government initiatives between 1992 and 2013 in a report published last week on behalf of 89 members of the Campaign for Better Hospital Food.1

The report said that, although all these initiatives had been based on thorough research of the problems, none had succeeded because recommendations were not made compulsory.

“Inexcusably, successive health ministers have persisted with this failed approach, and …

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