{"id":342907,"date":"2026-07-17T00:37:03","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T00:37:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/342907\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T00:37:03","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T00:37:03","slug":"tampa-general-becomes-first-hospital-in-nation-to-sign-healthy-food-pledge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/342907\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa General becomes first hospital in nation to sign healthy food pledge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 Tampa General Hospital is becoming the first hospital in the country to formally commit to a new federal nutrition initiative focused on healthier meals for patients.<\/p>\n<p>Health and Human Services Secretary (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins visited Tampa General on Wednesday as hospital leaders signed the \u201cMake Hospital Food Healthy Again\u201d pledge.<\/p>\n<p>The program promotes nutrition-focused meals and positions food as part of patient care and recovery.<\/p>\n<p>Hospital officials said the initiative expands Tampa General\u2019s push to redesign its patient menu around whole foods and Mediterranean-style meals.<\/p>\n<p>The health system partnered with celebrity chef Geoffrey Zakarian and integrative medicine specialists to create menus centered on nutrient-dense ingredients and fewer processed foods.<\/p>\n<p>According to Tampa General, the updated food program avoids artificial sweeteners and processed ingredients while emphasizing organic produce and locally sourced products.<\/p>\n<p>Kennedy praised the hospital during the visit and encouraged other medical centers to follow suit, arguing hospitals should serve meals that support healing rather than contribute to chronic disease.<\/p>\n<p>Tampa General leaders said the effort is part of a broader strategy to rethink patient care beyond traditional treatment by incorporating nutrition and long-term wellness into recovery plans.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/HALEY.ZARCONE.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Teen takeover or just hanging out? Police respond to 300 teens at Riverwalk<\/p>\n<p>Experts explain the difference between a hangout and a takeover.<\/p>\n<p>Teen takeover or just hanging out? Police respond to 300 teens at Riverwalk<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 Tampa General Hospital is becoming the first hospital in the country to formally commit to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":342908,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[140607,76864,276,24425,121018,13328,135,5910,108336,3670,137,136,28217],"class_list":["post-342907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-brooke-rollins","tag-geoffrey-zakarian","tag-hillsborough-county","tag-john-couris","tag-rfk-jr","tag-robert-f-kennedy-jr","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay-28","tag-tampa-bay-28-news","tag-tampa-bay-local-news","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-tgh"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/342908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}