N.Y. PBH Law § 2827

§ 2827. Plant-based food options. 1. Upon request by a patient or the\npatient's lawful representative in a hospital providing inpatient or\nresidential care, the hospital shall offer the patient a plant-based\nfood option as an alternative to every meal or snack offered in food\nservice to the patient. All the hospital's written material describing\nfood offerings shall include the availability of a plant-based food\noption. The plant-based food option shall be offered at no additional\ncost to the patient beyond what would be charged for a comparable\nnon-plant-based food option.\n 2. The hospital shall respond in a reasonable manner and time to any\nrequest made under this section. The request shall be effective for\nevery hospital meal or snack in which the patient is reasonably expected\nto participate. This section does not preclude the offering of\nplant-based food options to patients who have not requested it, and does\nnot preclude an individual who has requested a plant-based food option\nfrom selecting a non-plant-based food option.\n 3. As used in this section:\n (a) "Plant-based food option" means a food or beverage that is free of\nanimal products and that has nutritional value comparable to the\nnon-plant-based food option that it replaces.\n (b) "Animal product" means meat, poultry, seafood, dairy, eggs, honey,\nand any derivative thereof.\n 4. This section shall not apply to patient nutritional support\nproducts including, but not limited to, infant formulas, nutritional\nmodulars, oral nutritional supplements, enteral nutrition formulas, and\nparenteral or intravenous nutrition, prescribed or ordered by a health\ncare professional, licensed, certified or otherwise authorized to\npractice under title eight of the education law, acting within the\nprofessional's lawful scope of practice. However, where a request is\nmade under subdivision one of this section, and a health care\nprofessional is considering prescribing or ordering a patient\nnutritional support product under this subdivision, the health care\nprofessional shall consider and advise the requester whether a medically\nsuitable plant-based food option is reasonably available.\n