Food Security Challenges for Hospital Sustainability

Maria  Ulfa; Nazan  Aktas; Roslee  Rajikan; Nguyen Quoc  Anh; Seyyed Reza  Sobhani

doi:10.18502/jnfs.v9i4.16905

Maria Ulfa School of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Nazan Aktas Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, Selcuk University, Konya, Turkey
Roslee Rajikan Dietetics Program, Center for Healthy Ageing and Wellbeing, Faculty of Health Sciences, University Kebangsaan Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia
Nguyen Quoc Anh Department of Food Microbiology and Molecular Biology, National Institute of Nutrition, Hanoi, Vietnam
Seyyed Reza Sobhani Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/jnfs.v9i4.16905

Keywords: Food safety; Food security; Food services; Hospitals.

Abstract

Background: Food security and safety are becoming major concerns worldwide. Providing food security and safety in hospitals is particularly challenging since their populations are diverse in dietary and nutritional requirements and more vulnerable to foodborne illnesses. The aim of this research is to promote hospital sustainability by addressing food security and food safety. Method: This study uses a quantitative method with a bibliometric study approach. This research has 212 articles from the Scopus database. All the documents were collected simultaneously in August 2022. The selected article encompassed the years from 2017 to 2021, including document type, publication stage, source type, language, and subject area. The data was analyzed using VOSviewer and NVivo analytical tools. Results: The results of the studies on food security and safety increased from 2017-2022 with current trends in hospital sustainability, food waste, and waste management in food. Our study has identified four clusters: hospital food services, hospital sustainability, nutrition, and food safety. Food security is positively correlated with assessment, challenges, measurement, status, and sustainability (Pearson correlation score is 1). Disease control, proper waste management, and environmental health are all associated with food safety (Pearson correlation score ±0.79-0.64). Conclusion: Food safety and security are critical to achieve hospital sustainability, therefore awareness-raising efforts must continue. It is recommended that hospital stakeholders, food service providers; public and private sectors adopt policies and guidelines to disseminate information on food safety and security concerning hospital sustainability.