March 31st, over 60 Belgian healthcare professionals joined the online webinar “Plant Power in Healthcare”, organized by Mosquito In The Room. The webinar aims to show how hospital menus can simultaneously support patient health and help reduce environmental impact. Michael Nielsen, Unit Manager at Bispebjerg Hospital kitchen, gave a presentation on the implementation of “Green by Default” in a hospital kitchen serving five wards with a total of 400 beds.

“Green by Default” means that the menu available to patients is primarily vegetarian, with the option to add fish or meat on the side. In addition to its strong focus on vegetables, the food served at Bispebjerg Hospital is also almost entirely organic, with an organic share of 90–100%.

Better nutritional profile of meals

Michael Nielsen explained that when given the option, patients eat much more plant-based food than before, and that shifting the menu to focus more on legumes, fruits, and vegetables has resulted in an improved nutritional profile of the meals, ensuring better nutrition for patients. The “Green by Default” menus are so nutrient-dense that patients, even if they do not choose meat or fish, still meet their daily nutritional and protein needs.

A very clear observation has emerged: when patients have the option, they choose to eat less meat and much more vegetables, legumes, and fish, adhering more closely to dietary guidelines.

Organic food has not increased costs

An organic percentage of over 90% has, according to Michael Nielsen, not increased the cost of running the kitchen. During the transition, it was even possible to reduce food costs.

This was due to a change in the approach to cooking, a shift to less but higher quality meat as well as a focus on food waste. Previously, many of the items served were premade, but today the kitchen produces everything in-house. Baking bread, doing fermentation, making their own mayonnaise, and nutritionists and kitchen staff is continuously working to develop and improve the meals to better accommodate patients’ needs.

According to Michael Nielsen, the kitchen now serves higher-quality food. For instance, less meat, but all organic. The limited beef comes from nature-grazing cows, and the pork is from organic, free-range pigs that have lived outdoors their entire lives.

More green menus across wards

The satisfaction rate by patients has been so big, that by October this year, the entire hospital will serve their 600.000 meals a year with significantly more vegetables and legumes, along with many more vegetarian and plant-based options for patients to choose from.

Changing the kitchen and the menu is not an easy task. It has required dedicated work from on-site nutritionists, ongoing dialogue with patients, and a new way of cooking for kitchen staff. As a result, there has been a strong and continuous focus on upskilling and training kitchen professionals.

Behind the Webinar

“Plant Power in healthcare” is an initiative by Mosquito In The Room, a Belgian agency supporting all actors in the food system to accelerate the protein transition. The initiative is supported by the Flemish Green Deal Sustainable Healthcare and the Flemish Green Deal Protein Shift on Our Plate. It has a dedicated website at www.smakelijkezorgvooru.be, including a toolkit for all health care professionals, from dietitians to chefs, and from communications to management, to make a successful switch to more plant-based dishes in health care institutions. All materials are in Dutch, for now.

The Green Deal Protein Shift on Our Plate is a private-public collaboration platform between the Flemish government and stakeholders such as supermarkets, caterers, and food producers, aiming to increase the intake of protein from plant-based foods to 60 percent by 2030.

The Green Deal Sustainable Healthcare was launched in 2023 by the department of Health in Flanders to make the healthcare and welfare sector more sustainable.