The government is calling on the NHS to reduce the amount of money it spends on food and drink, saying it could save £420,000 a year on breakfast products alone.

The government claims that, if hospital trusts got better deals on breakfast items, they could cut their bills by a third without compromising on the quality of food or drink being served. It says that some hospitals are paying inflated prices to suppliers for breakfast items such as tea, coffee, baked beans and juice.

Some trusts buy their food and drink individually and could be paying 40% more for tea or coffee than a neighbouring trust, with new data showing that the NHS buys enough tea to fill 60 million cups a year.

Stephen Hammond, minister for health, said: “The NHS serves up thousands of delicious breakfasts every day – but pays wildly different amounts for simple things like beans, tea and jam.

“By signing up to this deal [The Breakfast Savings Initiative], hospitals could save thousands of pounds every year that can help us improve services through our NHS long-term plan.”

The Breakfast Savings Initiative, which 19 trusts participate in, is part of a drive to save £2.4bn. The scheme aims to end variation in the prices that different hospitals pay and to facilitate the swapping of items with like-for-like products.

The government says that any changes made to the foods bought by a hospital or clinic will be vetted by a group of culinary and dietary experts to make sure that they do not compromise on taste or nutritional value. Rona Miranda, an account director in the NHS food supply chain said: “The health and wellbeing of patients is our top priority and we work hard to source nutritious food at the most competitive prices. The objective is to remove any variation in product pricing across the NHS estate by leveraging the collective buying power of the NHS. In turn, trusts will receive clinically assured, quality products at the best possible price.”