Stanford Health Care in Stanford, Calif., is working to improve the reputation of hospital cuisine by (what the chef calls) calls "cleaning the food," according to an article on the Mother Jones website.
Jesse Cool, the restaurant owner and consultant who spearheads the effort, says changes in the works include sourcing more-sustainable ingredients across the board, offsetting the cost of going organic and local by serving less (but better) meat.
Cool is also revamping recipes to replace added sugar with natural sweeteners and cut down on salt and fat.
"We're doing this in the oldest, most beat-up kitchen imaginable," he said.
Workers at the hospital food facility—built in 1959 and operated by Sodexo — are responsible for churning out 1.8 million meals per year while catering to the fickle demands of an ever-changing patient population, not to mention the countless doctors, hospital workers, and families who visit the cafeteria, the article said.