Public Procurement of Food and Healthy Communities

By Greg Cook

Public purchasing by institutions such as schools and hospitals is big business. It is also a crucial part of strategies to roll back increasing levels of chronic diseases.

Leaders from both the public and private sectors have begun to consider the role public procurement of food plays in nutritional health among populations of students and others fed through publicly-funded means. The Kaiser Permanente Institute for Health Policy (IHP) puts it this way: “The food system is a key pathway to individual, public and global health—above and beyond basic nutrition.” Re-assessing the procurement process can have many benefits, including improved nutrition for consumers, reduction of public health scares involving pathogens such as salmonella, decreased pollution, and a decrease in health inequalities for at-risk populations and minorities.

Companies in the private sector are showing some ways in which procurement can be re-thought. Walmart has been making efforts to purchase more locally-sourced and organic foods. Chipotle Mexican Grill is guided by its corporate philosophy of “food with integrity” in reaching outside the existing supply chain to buy humanely-raised and drug-free meats.

There is also movement in the public sector. Washington State has instituted a farm-to-school food program that encourages schools to purchase food from nearby producers. Another aspect of this program is a set of pilot projects at state prisons to serve food grown by inmates.

Current issues of procurement arise, ironically, from past success in standardizing and efficiency. The massive scale of much procurement has led to small and/or local suppliers being shut out of the process. The growth of huge supply chains has also interacted with fluctuating transportation costs.

The Healthiest State Campaign and the Washington State Department of Health are working to bring together concerned private and public advocates from business, philanthropies, non-profits, and government to talk about ways to improve the public procurement process and work on other issues. This Healthiest Communities Partnership seeks to enlist interested partners from throughout the state to make our state a healthier state and our communities healthier places to live, raise families, and do business.

For more information on the Healthiest Communities Partnership click here.