Environmental Performance Indicators Used in Healthcare Foodservices: A Scoping Review

Healthcare foodservices are increasingly recognised as a key contributor to advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly through reducing greenhouse gas emissions, waste minimisation, and promotion of sustainable diets. This scoping review aimed to identify existing international evidence on environmental sustainability indicators used in healthcare foodservices and examine their alignment with relevant Australian standards and policies.

Following Joanna Briggs Institute methodology and reported against the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines, systematic searches of Ovid Medline All, EBSCO Environmental Complete, and EBSCO Global Health were conducted. Environmental sustainability indicators were extracted and synthesised into the Foodservice Systems Model and Sustainable Development Goals. The extent to which indicators are reflected in existing Australian standards and policies for food, nutrition and sustainable procurement was assessed through a policy scan and content mapping.

Fifty studies met eligibility criteria. In total, 51 indicators were identified across procurement, facilities, workforce, menu design, production, delivery, waste management, and quality systems. Key gaps included scope 3 emissions reporting, inconsistent waste measurement methods, and limited integration into quality audits. Cross mapping revealed most indicators were absent or only partially embedded in current policy.

These findings highlight the challenges in assessing and benchmarking environmental sustainability in Australian hospitals. In the absence of an agreed set of important and feasible indicators, evaluation of the current state (cross sectional) and change (longitudinal) of progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals in this setting remains challenging.