Health Care Says "No" to Meat Raised with Antibiotics

Healthy Food in Health Care's (HFHC) antibiotics work has been heating up because of various bills currently before Congress.

In the past few weeks, representatives Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Louise Slaughter (D-NY) introduced the Delivering Antimicrobial Transparency in Animals (DATA) Act (H.R. 820) into the House. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced a similar version, the Antimicrobial Data Collection Act (S. 895) into the Senate as well. These bills would require the FDA to report more of the information it already collects about antibiotics used in animal feed to the public.

Additionally, Representative Slaughter (re)introduced the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA) (H.R. 1150) into Congress a few weeks ago. This bill would protect eight classes of antibiotics important for treating sick people. It would withdraw their use from food animal production unless animals are sick with disease, or unless drug companies can prove that their use does not harm human health. PAMTA has over 40 cosponsors to date. Companion Senate bill (Prevention of Antibiotic Resistance Act), co-sponsored by Senators Feinstein and Susan Collins (R-ME)) will likely be introduced soon.

Stay tuned for more action on antibiotics as these two bills move through Congress. In the meantime, check out photos of HFHC Co-Coordinator, Michelle Gottlieb and San Francisco Physicians for Social Responsibility Board President, Robert Gould, who participated in the Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming's Supermoms Against Superbugs advocacy day in Washington D.C. They met with several Congressional leaders to urge them to take the issue of antibiotics in animal agriculture seriously.

Additionally, HFHC is taking further action on antimicrobial use in animal agriculture. We joined Center for Food Safety (CFS), Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, and seven other U.S. food safety, agriculture, public health, and environmental groups in a lawsuit filed on behalf of CFS, to compel the FDA to respond to the groups' three year-old petition which calls for immediate withdrawal of the FDA's approval of arsenic-containing compounds as feed additives for food animals. For more information visit CFS' site.

Finally, there is also much work happening on the genetically-engineered (GE) food front. 529 health professionals signed our letter to the FDA between January and April, voicing their concern about the FDA's cursory Environmental Assessment on AquAdvantage GE Salmon. The FDA is filtering through all these comments right now. We're also following the bicameral GE labeling bill in Congress, introduced by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Representative Peter DeFazio (D-CO). Stay tuned for updates on this issue.

News from the Field: Sustainable Purchasing by Award-Winning Union Hospital of Maryland 

Union Hospital in Cecil County, Maryland has increased its percentage of sustainable and local purchases for meat, poultry, vegetables, fruits, and dairy from 18 to 56 percent between 2009 and 2012. To achieve these numbers, it adopted a Healthy Foods Program, relies on seasonal menus to take advantage of cost savings, reduced the amount of meat purchased to reduce costs, and replaced higher-cost prepared and processed foods with fresh, whole ingredients.

Shane Hughes from Liberty Delight Farms, pictured with one of his cows. Union Hospital purchases sustainable meat from this farm.

In 2012, Union Hospital converted its kitchen to nearly 100 percent from-scratch cooking, eliminating processed foods, trans fats, and artificial flavorings. This conversion increased kitchen teamwork, and improved patient diets at the hospital. Since the hospital has more control over what goes into its food, it is also able to provide greater variety to patients with special diets. For example, the hospital can now replace low-sodium processed items with lower-sodium and fat items made in-house, where the exact amount of fat, sodium, and seasoning is controlled. The addition of a vacuum sealer also helps Union Hospital to extend the local harvest season. The facility now purchases fresh ingredients in season, and preps and freezes them, which allows Union Hospital to serve local, sustainable foods to patients, employees, and visitors year-round.

 

In April of this year, Holly Emmons, the Food Service Manager at Union Hospital, received first place in Health Care Without Harm's Exemplary Food Service Professional Award category at CleanMed, for her work in leading and supporting Union Hospital's efforts. According to Emmons, "for the past four years, Union Hospital has embraced healthy foods and has worked towards achieving significant results through Health Care Without Harm's food initiatives and Maryland Hospitals for a Healthy Environment's (MDH2E) goals." She added, "this award represents a culmination of these efforts, but most importantly, defines a legacy for others to follow toward a more sustainable future."

 

For a list of all the 2013 Healthy Food in Health Care award winners, check out our newly released Menu of Change report, which also highlights the sustainable food achievements of several other hospitals across the country. 

Clinician Champions: 2013 HFHC Award Winners

At the 2013 HFHC awards at CleanMed in April, three exemplary clinicians received the Clinical Advocacy & Engagement Award. This award was established to recognize leading clinical health professionals for making the critical link between our industrialized food system and public health. 

First place went to Judith Focareta, Med, RN, LCCE, Coordinator of Environmental Health Initiatives, Magee-Womens Hospital of University of Pittsburg Medical Center, Pittsburg, PA. Focareta approached hospital leadership to sign the HFHC Pledge, has generated printed and web-based educational materials on healthy food and food systems, and coordinates hospital organic gardens.

Second place went to Debbie Petitpain, MS, RD, LD, Bariatric Dietitian, Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), Charleston, SC. Petitpain worked with her facility to sign the HFHC Pledge, organized food service related activities around recycling, reusable beverage containers, and food waste composting initiatives, and contributes monthly to department articles in a campus-wide newsletter. Her clinical patient care activities include facilitating the use of MUSC's farm, a former parking lot turned into a ½ acre green space.

Heather Fletcher, RD, Manager, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON received third place. Fletcher worked with her facility Sustainability Coordinator to sign the HFHC Pledge and create a local, sustainable food policy. Her clinical patient care activities include developing patient tray education on healthy food activities and a seasonal recipe book.

Read more details about these clinicians and all of the award winners in our 2013 Menu of Change report.

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