Repurposing surplus Australian hospital food to support food insecurity and reduce food waste.

Australia is experiencing a current juxtaposition between large amounts of food waste and increasing food insecurity. Surplus food produced by Australian hospitals is currently sent to landfill but could be temporarily repurposed to support food-insecure individuals and families until large-scale food system reform is achieved. We comment on potential uses for this surplus 'food waste', including four strategies: medically tailored meals, food provision at discharge, donation and internal hospital system reuse. These strategies could simultaneously reduce hospital food waste while providing food relief for those who need it most. We highlight the potential challenges to adopting this strategy in practice and provide a final call to action for hospital foodservices to challenge the status quo.