Adopting healthy food procurement strategies to improve nutrition in city of los angeles government food service environments

Introduction: The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (DPH) collaborated with the Los Angeles Food Policy Council (LAFPC) to develop healthy food purchasing guidelines for food service institutions to address the growing obesity epidemic and to leverage the purchasing power of City of Los Angeles departments to purchase more healthy and sustainable food. Based on a study that assessed the steps to the adoption and implementation of food procurement standards (Robles et al., 2013), DPH provided technical assistance to LAFPC on the development of the purchasing guidelines. The guidelines include purchasing standards for fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and lower sodium products, etc. In October 2012, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa signed the executive order to implement these guidelines in LA City departments.

Methods: We describe key steps to developing and implementing the purchasing guidelines, including DPH's role in providing technical assistance. Lessons learned with implementation and the nutrition changes made in the food service environments will be discussed within the context of population reach and public health impact.

Results: With approximately 10 departments purchasing food in the City of Los Angeles, there is a transformative opportunity to improve nutrition in approximately 98,000 meals per day. Cost and availability of healthier food, and collaboration with City departments and vendors are all important factors to successful implementation.

Discussion: The new City of Los Angeles purchasing guidelines represent a model for other cities/communities, supported by federal initiatives like CTG, to take similar action.