Changes in Hospital and Care Home Menus in Alicante

Recently, it was announced that there would be changes to the food served in educational centres. Now, similar changes are being planned for healthcare facilities. The Government aims to ensure that both hospitals and public care homes provide healthy meals, and this will be achieved through the enactment of a Royal Decree to regulate this matter.

Prior to this, the Government has launched a public consultation to allow citizens, as well as social entities, unions, consumer organisations, professionals, and users of hospitals and care homes, among others, to contribute and comment to enrich the proposal before drafting the regulatory project. The participation period will be open until 21 June 2025.

The initiative originates from the Ministries of Health and Social Rights, Consumer Affairs, and the 2030 Agenda. The Government states, through a communiqué, that the measure responds to the call made by the World Health Organization (WHO) to public administrations to reduce the prevalence of diet-related preventable diseases.

The Minister of Health, Mónica García, has stated that "health, dignity, and care must begin from the food tray of a hospital or care home. We have evidence that eating well, far from being an accessory issue or a luxury, is a necessity, especially when going through an illness or when dependent on care in a residence."

Meanwhile, the Minister of Consumer Affairs considers that improving food in hospitals and care homes "is a true social outcry" and has described it as "contradictory that in a place where we go to be healed or because we require care, we are given food that does not meet minimum nutritional quality standards."

The Government recalls that the dietary recommendations on which the decree is based stem from the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN) and the World Health Organization (WHO). According to the latter, non-communicable diseases were the leading cause of death for at least 43 million people in 2021, accounting for 75% of deaths (excluding those due to the pandemic that year).

In Spain, 54% of the population, according to the European Health Survey in Spain, suffers from some type of chronic disease, mainly hypertension and high cholesterol.