The modernization of hospital food service - findings from a longitudinal study of technology trends in Danish hospitals

Purpose - Hospital food has come into focus during the last decade due to reports of under-nutrition and at the same time food service has undergone significant changes. The aim of this paper is to document and discuss the change in technology and logistics used in the Danish hospital food service during the years 1995-2003. Further, the aim is to discuss possibilities for integrating food production and patient nutrition at hospitals in order to improve patient nutrition.Design methodology approach - The empirical data consist of quantitative serial data on Danish hospital food service collected over a period starting in 1995 and ending in 2003. Data have been collected as part of two large surveys describing the food service systems in Danish hospitals in 1995 and in 2003. Both surveys were carried out by the Food Research Department of the Danish Food Authorities. Answers were compared by means of Chi-square ( 2) tests with Yates' correction. Two-sided p-values