Organic, grass-fed and locally raised, Foxhollow Farm hamburgers stampede into five Norton Hospital cafeterias

Hospital food tastes better at Norton Healthcare, where the Louisville hospital chain is the first to introduce organic, grass-fed hamburgers and first to prepare locally-farmed squash and other vegetables in cafeterias year round.

"We know that eating local is healthy for us. The main message is the journey to your plate is shorter," Norton Healthcare clinical nutritionist Erin Wiedmar said.

The healthcare chain that just closed a longtime McDonald's to bring in the healthier Au Bon Pain restaurant this spring to Norton Children's Hospital "is in the midst of improving our food culture," Wiedmar added.

That means Fridays in Norton's five hospital cafeterias now feature $4.99 Foxhollow Farm brand, grass-fed, four-ounce hamburgers. The conventional hamburger from beef fattened on genetically-modified corn is still sold for $2.85 in those dining halls.

Some 85 percent of Norton cafeteria customers are hospital employees. For those employee customers, hospital patients, and their families, locally-grown food "just tastes better," said Gene Gruver, director of Norton's Food & Nutrition Department.  As the man in charge of five cafeterias serving thousands of meals a week, Gruver is procuring organic beef, butternut squash, sweet potatoes and carrots via local, family-owned purveyors like Piazza Produce and Superior Meats in addition to the volume food deliveries from giant distributors the likes of Sysco and U.S. Foods.

"There is a lot going on with our health and the way we eat and a lot of diseases, like diabetes. I don’t want to be a part of that. And I don’t want to serve it," Gruver said Friday.