Last week, the Women's Health & Environmental Network (WHEN)
launched a pilot called the Balanced Menus project. The project
is a commitment by healthcare facilities to reduce their
environmental impact and, at the same time, increase the health
and wellness of their customers. FSD talked with Dianne Moore,
manager of Healthy Food in Health Care for WHEN, about the
pilot. What is the Balanced Menus project? Balanced Menus
project is a voluntary commitment by healthcare institutions to
reduce their meat offerings in patient meals and hospital
cafeterias by 20% in 12 months. Balanced Menus is a climate
change reduction strategy that also protects the effectiveness
of antibiotics and promotes good nutrition. Fourteen hospitals
are already participating in the national Balanced Menus
Challenge. In the Philadelphia region, Cooper University
Hospital in Camden, N.J., and Thomas Jefferson University
Hospital in Philadelphia have signed on to reduce their meat
purchases by 20% in 12 months. Why was this project creat