Antibiotic-free meat shows up on more hospital menus

Chris Linaman was not aware of the link between the meat industry's use of antibiotics in raising animals and the increase in antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections in humans when he suffered a three-month bout with a virulent, antibiotic-resistant infection. Later, he attended a healthcare sustainability conference at which he learned about the connection.

Those experiences prompted the executive chef at Overlake Hospital Medical Center in Bellevue, Wash., to shift his hospital away from serving meat products derived from animals raised on antibiotics. In 2011, he wrote a food-purchasing policy manual for a new way of purchasing meat. “That keeps me on track to make sure that we are doing the right thing with our food,” Linaman said. Overlake has become a leader among the growing number of U.S. hospitals serving antibiotic-free or reduced-antibiotic meat and poultry to their patients, staff and cafeteria diners. Nearly 50% of Overlake's meat budget is spent on products from animals raised without the routine use of antibiotics.

Overlake is one of more than 500 U.S. hospitals, mostly on the West Coast and in the Northeast, working with Healthy Food in Health Care, an initiative of the national not-for-profit Health Care Without Harm. Many of these hospitals, including 41 in California, are working to reduce their overall meat purchases and the use of antibiotics in the production of meat they serve, said Kendra Klein, senior program associate for the healthy food program's work in California. Beyond simply serving healthier meats in their facilities, they hope to create more demand for these products and nudge the U.S. agricultural industry to change its practices...