厚生連病院における地場産農産物活用の現状と課題

抄録

We investigated the use of local vegetable products in the hospital-food services of three Koseiren hospitals. The hospitals use local vegetable products that are purchased from retailers, farmers, Japan Agricultural Cooperatives (JAs), and foodservice contractors. There are differences among the three hospitals, in terms of level of activity and consumption of local vegetable products; many of these differences derive from the ideas or plans of the hospital managers. One of the three hospitals uses local vegetables products once a month, while the other hospitals use them every day. Two of the hospitals have experienced problems in using local vegetable products within their food services, namely, supply shortages and a lack of variety. The results of this study imply that JAs have the potential to satisfy hospital food service requests for local vegetable products. Moreover, it will be necessary for hospital managers to become more active in the use of local vegetable products.