Balanced Menus for Hospitals

International coalition Health Care Without Harm’s Balanced Menu Challenge, which aims to increase health and sustainability in hospitals, has more than thirty US hospitals voluntarily committing to reduce their meat served by at least 20 percent within a 12-month period. The climate change strategy aims to both help improve the health of the patients and to support ecological sustainability by reducing the amount of animal proteins used for food. Health Without Harm acknowledges that Americans tend to eat more protein than is necessary, and that seafood, meat, and poultry are not only unsustainable, but they also pose health risks to patients due to pollution and the antibiotics, arsenic, and hormones present in animal farming.