Grossman hits out over NHS food

The broadcaster, famous for Masterchef, said a long line of health ministers had failed to give sufficient political commitment to improving NHS food.

The Department of Health said hospital food had improved greatly. Mr Grossman was asked to head the government’s Better Hospital Food Programme seven years ago.

The £40m initiative was launched in 2001 and ran for five years but it failed to capture the imagination. Mr Grossman was reported as saying, “It was a hugely missed opportunity. I found there was little political commitment to improve hospital food. In the five years I was involved I reported to five different miniters.”

Mr Grossman said his work with the NHS had left him reluctant to get involved in similar projects without a guarantee that they would be taken seriously.