Objective Determine if nutrient content on a hospital inpatient menu could be matched when replacing meat with meat-free and plant-based alternatives including legumes, eggs and dairy sources of protein. Design Comparative analysis of nutrient data. Setting National Health Service (NHS) acute hospital in England. Method Nutrient data were transcribed from the catering suppliers’ catalogue for lunch and dinner mains from a current 2-week menu into Excel for analysis. A proposed alternative 2-week menu was designed, substituting meat-based options with available meat-free or plant-based options. Results The original menu was predominantly meat-based with 59% of menu choices being meat with nearly 40% ruminant meat (beef or lamb). In the alternative menu, only four ruminant meat-based options were offered. Mean nutrient content per serving, taken as an average of all main meals on the 2-week menus, was matched between the original and alternative menu with a slight increase in fibre and reduction in salt: kilocalories 266 kcal (SD 98.2) and 253 kcal (SD 80.5) p=0.277, protein 13.9 g (SD 4.1) and 12.8 g (SD 4.1) p=0.067, fat 14.4 g (SD 7.4) and 12.6 g (SD 6.5) p=0.062, fibre 2.1 g (SD 2.1) and 3.2 g (SD 2.8) p=0.001, salt equivalent 0.98 g (SD 0.38) and 0.88 g (SD 0.32) p=0.036, respectively. Conclusions Meat-free and plant-based options can be substituted in favour of meat without detriment to mean nutrient content. This study has shown that, in theory, it is possible to make sustainable changes to the hospital menu with currently available catering suppliers. As a sizeable supplier, the NHS has a responsibility to address the significant environmental impact of meat-based foods through sustainable menu redesign.
Fletcher et al. (Tue,) studied this question.