The Dunedin Hospital food debacle was fodder for the Otago Polytechnic Food Design Conference yesterday.
College of Enterprise and Development lecturer Phil Osborne (pictured) ran a panel discussion titled: "What's wrong with our hospital food?''.
After the event, Mr Osborne said panel members and other participants shared their own hospital food experiences, in Dunedin and at other hospitals.
They discussed the national publicity that accompanied the introduction of the outsourced food contract at Dunedin Hospital.
Mr Osborne said the public had not understood why the health board outsourced the service, and the board had appeared to have had little choice in its decision.
The examples of unappetising meals highlighted in the media seemed to be the "extreme end of the spectrum'', but the publicity was in part driven by the fact that concerns over the outsourcing decision were not properly addressed.
The panel discussed food as a "cultural icon'', and the need to balance economic and social values when making outsourcing decisions.
