Read Our Initial Report
Our 2020 California Specialty Crop Block Grant period has concluded. Read our initial study report: "Institutional Procurement Of Regionally-Grown Crops: Learning Lessons" (PDF)
Healthy and Sustainable Hospital Food
Food Procurement at UC Davis Health
In the past few years, the number of small farms in six counties in Sacramento declined. This trend is likely to be further impacted due to the effects of COVID-19 on the agricultural industry. However, the USDA cites small farms as ‘vital to our nation’s health and economy’ and responsible for protecting and enhancing our natural resources and environment.
UC Davis Health has the second largest production kitchen in the state's capital, serving 2.4 million meals per year. While Sacramento is hailed as the "Farm-to-Fork" capital, pursuing a "Farm-to-Hospital" model requires addressing the barriers to building a food system that sustainably supports the health of people, communities, and our environment.
Expanding Opportunities in Hospital Food Service for Small and Mid-Scale California Specialty Crop Growers
A project funded by the California Department of Food & Agriculture expanded opportunities for partnership with UC Davis Health for small and mid-scale growers who focus on California specialty crops (i.e. fruits, vegetables, and nuts).
Project Goals
The project will address barriers and enhance pathways for UC Davis Health’s kitchen to source healthy and regional produce. We aim to:
- Increase purchase of fresh California specialty crops, and move away from out of state or international purchasing
- Pilot a communication process for sharing UC Davis Health crop purchasing projections with regional producers, minimizing market uncertainty and risk for farmers by forecasting sales
- Provide technical assistance for growers and five food hubs to sell to institutional buyers
- Develop skills for hospital cooks, dieticians, and managers
- Educate patients and cafeteria customers with recipe cards
Funding for Expanding Opportunities in Hospital Food Service for Small and Mid-Scale California Specialty Crop Growers was made possible by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service through grant AM200100XXXXG032. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the USDA.
Project Outcomes
- UC Davis Health maximized the purchasing of fresh specialty crops from local growers between 2019 and 2022
- Our team designed targeted strategies to increase local purchasing of twelve priority specialty crops
- Sourcing of all California fresh specialty crops increased by 25% and sourcing of the twelve priority specialty crops increased by nearly 70%
- Sourcing of all California fresh specialty crops, specifically those grown within 250 miles of Sacramento, increased by 377%
- UC Davis Health increased sourcing from 29 distinct local growers to 43
- The UC Davis Health production kitchen increased the number of unique menu items with specialty crops from 55 to 134
Increased local purchasing outcomes were achieved through targeted interventions including consistent communication between farms, distributors and institutional purchasers, accurate tracking of crop origins, and education of staff and consumers.
Institutions like UC Davis Health have the potential to foster local economic benefits and influence healthy eating behaviors by prioritizing local crop purchasing from sustainable farms.
Project Partners
News
Read the project's initial press release: 'Enhancing California’s specialty crops' (UC Davis Health Newsroom March 2021)
Farm to Hospital Resources
The Center for Precision Medicine and Data Sciences along with UC Davis Health and the Food and Nutrition Services department have a mission to promote and protect health in light of nutrition-related illnesses such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Farm to Hospital initatives can advance this mission. The success of these programs requires navigating barriers to values-based purchasing, targeted interventions and partnerships with food hubs and other food distributors. As part of our grant work with Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, we have produced a few resources we hope will be helpful for other institutions to adopt.
Resources for Institutions
To adopt purchasing strategies that support local, sustainable farms, institutional food services can learn from the experiences of institutions implementing similar programs:
Institutional Procurement of Regionally-Grown Crops: Learning Lessons (2023) (PDF)
Distance, Scale and Ownership in Values-Based Purchasing: A Review of the Literature (2023) (PDF)
Resources for Growers
This guide is written for food hubs and other food facilities seeking information about how to navigate food safety questions from buyers and pursue a third-party food safety audit.
A Guide to Food Safety Certification for Food Hubs and Food Facilities (ENGLISH) (PDF)
A Guide to Food Safety Certification for Food Hubs and Food Facilities (ESPAÑOL) (PDF)
Resources for Consumers
These recipe cards highlight California grown specialty crops that are purchased by the UC Davis Medical Center kitchen from regional growers. These crops appear on the menus at the cafes extensively.
