NHS patients are consuming meals that are prepared and then frozen months in advance.
Nearly a fifth of all the hot food served to the NHS hospital patients in Scotland, Wales and England are prepared at a private factory located in Wiltshire and later shipped up to 650 miles. While it is believed that NHS purchases around 50% of the hot food from several external suppliers.
Questions about mass-produced frozen meals have been raised at the NHS since the time a listeria outbreak caused the death of 5 people in the month of May this year.
Patients at nearly 430 NHS hospitals are given 46,000 re-heated frozen meals coming from that factory.
Once frozen as well as tested, the meals are stored in freezers for 2 months on an average while the unusual food product lines may be kept for around a year even before they reach the patients.
However, the campaigners seem to be sceptical with regards to the re-heated meals.
According to Matt Hancock, Health Secretary, best hospitals really are the ones which serve freshly cooked meals, said Soil Association’s Rob Percival.
On the other hand, the Chief Executive of Apetito said that perception about mass-produced meals is ‘outdated.’
The government will be working along with NHS to make sure that the meals served as well as served at the hospitals are healthy, safe, and nutritious and helps in patients’ recovery, a spokesperson said.