ALBANY, NY – New York hospitals and nursing homes would be required to give patients the option of vegan meals at no extra cost under a bill passed Monday by the state Senate and Assembly.

Vegan, or plant-based, meals are free of animal products such as meat, seafood, dairy and eggs.

A memo in the bill notes that the American Medical Association adopted a resolution in 2017 calling on hospitals to improve patient health by providing a variety of healthful foods, including vegan meals.

“Patients in inpatient or residential health care settings are a captive audience dependent on the institution for their food,” the memo says.

The bill requires hospitals and nursing homes to offer vegan options at every meal and snack to patients who request them.

Sen. Brad Hoylman, D-Manhattan, and Assembly Health Committee Chair Richard Gottfried, D-Manhattan, co-sponsored the legislation.

“As Hippocrates once said, ‘Let food by thy medicine and medicine by thy food,’” Hoylman said in a prepared statement. “Studies repeatedly show that transitioning to a more plant-based diet alleviates the side effects associated with chronic conditions like heart disease, diabetes, obesity, high cholesterol and high blood pressure.”

California recently passed similar legislation.

Many hospitals across the state -- including St. Joseph’s, Crouse and Upstate in Syracuse -- already offer patients vegan options, according to Darren Dopp of the Healthcare Association of New York State, which represents hospitals and nursing homes.

“Hospitals generally try to make every accommodation possible to patients as long as it does not contradict medical treatment,” he said.