Provision of food and drink | Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission

What is the outcome you need to achieve?

The provider must provide individuals with food and drinks that meet their nutritional needs and are appetising and flavoursome, have variation and choice about what they eat and drink and choice about how much they eat and drink.

Updates to guidance

An updated version of the strengthened Standards was published by the Department of Health and Aged Care on 18 February 2025. Please see here for more information Strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards – February 2025 | Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care.

The Commission is currently updating our guidance content to reflect these changes. Please ensure you check back regularly.

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6.3.1

Menus (including for texture modified diets):

are designed in partnership with individuals
are developed with the input of chefs, cooks and an Accredited Practising Dietitian, including for individuals with specialised dietary needs
are regularly changed, include variety and enable individuals to make choices about what they eat and drink
enable individuals to meet their nutritional needs
are reviewed at least annually through a menu and mealtime assessment by an Accredited Practising Dietitian.

6.3.2

For each meal, individuals can exercise choice about what, when, where and how they eat and drink.

6.3.3

Meals, drinks and snacks provided to individuals (including where individuals have specialised dietary needs or need support to eat):

are appetising and flavourful
are served at the correct temperature and in an appealing way, including the presentation of texture modified foods using tools such as moulds
are prepared and served safely
meet each individual’s assessed needs
are in accordance with each individual’s choice
reflect the menu.

6.3.4

Individuals are offered and able to access nutritious snacks and drinks (including water) at all times.

Why is this outcome important?

Outcome 6.3 explains providers’ obligations to make sure that older people in residential care homes receive appetising, nutritious and flavourful meals that meet their individual needs and preferences. This includes all areas of food services. For example:

making sure nutritious snacks and drinks are always available
serving food at the correct temperature
presentation that is appealing, including for texture modified meals.

You must support each older person’s right to choose what, when, where and how they eat and drink.

Key aspects of Outcome 6.3 include the development and regular review of menus. Menus should offer variety and choice, making sure older people not only receive the nutrients they need but also enjoy their meals, enhancing their satisfaction and wellbeing*. You need to partner with older people and relevant allied health* and health professionals*, such as Accredited Practising Dietitians, to make sure you design menus to meet the older person’s nutritional needs and preferences. This collaborative approach makes sure that meals are interesting, varied and enjoyable for older people, while addressing any specialised dietary needs in line with contemporary, evidence-based practices*.

You need to give focus to:

development and review of menus
partnering with older people and relevant health professionals*
giving older people’s choice about what, when, where and how they eat and drink
access to snacks and drinks.

Update to guidance

The Commission is currently updating our guidance content to reflect these changes. Please ensure you check back regularly.

Key tasks

Providers(active tab)

Providers

Put in place strategies to provide food and drink to older people that meets their needs and preferences.

Include processes* to:

partner with older people (Outcomes 6.1 and 2.1). This is to enable older people to provide input into the service’s menu. For example, ask older people what their food preferences are and consider partnering with local communities to include traditional foods and cooking methods. Strategies need to be flexible and provide choice to support each older person’s needs and preferences. It’s important to acknowledge that older people’s needs and preferences can change daily.
support older people to exercise dignity of risk* and eating and drinking with acknowledged risk (EDAR) (Outcomes 1.2 and 1.3). For example, if an older person can’t eat gluten and they still want to eat bread, you should give them the opportunity to choose whether they eat it or not. Provide the older person with the information they need to make this decision. For example, talk with them about the risks involved and explore strategies to mitigate risk (Outcome 2.6). This is so they can make an informed decision about their food and drink choices.
make sure all older people can access nutritious* snacks and drinks at all times. This includes always providing water, as well as snacks and drinks that meet specific dietary requirements.
get expert input from chefs, cooks and Accredited Practising Dietitians when menu planning. This makes sure the needs of any older people with specialised dietary requirements are being met. They can review recipes, ingredients, cooking methods, serving sizes, menu changes and the dining experience*. Accredited Practising Dietitians will also help make sure older people are given food and drink that meets their specific nutritional needs.
have a menu and mealtime assessment completed by an Accredited Practising Dietitian at least once a year. Menu and mealtime assessments should include a review of the menu against relevant nutritional standards, guidelines and frameworks (such as texture modification) based on contemporary, evidence-based practice*. This is to help make sure food and fluids, nutritional care, mealtimes and dining experiences* you provide support the needs, goals and preferences* of older people at your service.
design and review food service processes*, including menus and the dining experience*, to support each older person’s needs and preferences. This will help to make sure that you tailor food, drink and the dining experience* to each older person’s needs and preferences (Outcomes 1.1 and 3.1). You can do this by partnering with older people and discussing menu options with them (Outcome 6.1). Make sure you document how you’re providing a variety and choice of food and drink to older people as listed in your menus. For example, having seasonal or quarterly menu changes.
make sure you base menu options on contemporary, evidence-based practices* and guidelines (Outcome 6.1)
- enable choice about what, where and when older people can eat and drink
- seek and implement feedback from older people to make sure that the food you serve is appetising, appealing, flavourful and well presented, including for texture modified foods. For example, using different plating techniques and serving equipment. Make sure that a trained professional with knowledge in texture modification and skill in your dietary framework reviews your texture modified diet menus. This is to help make sure you prepare meals correctly and consistently.
- consider:
  - contrasting coloured vegetables
  - different textures (where appropriate for the older person)
  - fresh foods
  - seasonal foods
  - food aromas, as the way older people taste and smell can reduce with age.
- prepare and handle food safely while managing dignity of choice and risk. You need to:
  - show that you comply with your approved food safety program in line with the relevant state or territory food safety legislation
  - work with older people and the relevant food safety body to enable choice when they want to eat foods that are risky for vulnerable people
  - serve food and crockery in a way that is safe. For example, at a temperature that is not too hot or cold.
  - have strategies to give opportunities to older people to be safely involved in preparing food and drink (Outcome 7.1). For example, through daily living and leisure activities.

Make sure the workers who provide food and drinks have the time, support, resources and skills to do this in line with older people’s needs and preferences.

Provide workers with guidance and training on how to prepare and provide food and drink in line with older people’s needs and preferences. This needs to be in line with:

the organisation’s policies* and procedures*. These should reflect contemporary, evidence-based practice*.
workers’ roles and responsibilities*.

Make sure workers understand how to:

provide meals, drinks and snacks that:
- are varied, appetising, flavourful and appealing
- meet each older person’s nutritional needs and preferences
- they prepare, store and serve safely, including to the correct consistency as needed for each older person
support older people to choose what, when, where and how they eat and drink.

The guidance for Outcomes 2.8 and 2.9 has more information on workforce planning and worker training.

The guidance for Outcome 3.2 has more information on delivering care and services.

Monitor that food and drinks provided to older people are in line with their needs and preferences.

To check if the food and drinks you provide to older people meet their needs and preferences, you can review:

the older person’s care and service documents (Outcome 3.1). For example, making sure care provided in the progress notes is in line with the older person’s needs outlined in their care and services plan*.
complaints* and feedback* for trends (Outcome 2.6)
incident* information for trends (Outcome 2.5).

Look for situations where:

an older person has experienced food related illness or allergies when provided food and drinks
your organisation has used unsafe food practices
older people haven’t been able to access food or drink
you haven’t met older people’s assessed needs or documented preferences with food and drink.

Also, talk with older people, their families and carers* to understand if there are ways to improve the way you serve food and drink at the service (Outcomes 6.1, 5.4 and 2.1). Workers may also be able to provide feedback* about the way food and drink is served and enjoyed. These conversations can then inform continuous improvement* actions and planning (Outcome 2.1).

If you find any issues or ways you can improve through your reviews and assessments, you need to address them. If things go wrong, you need to:

practise open disclosure* (Outcome 2.3). This means being open about what has gone wrong. Share what went wrong with older people, their family and carers*.
have strategies to mitigate the risk of things going wrong again.

The guidance for Outcome 2.3 has more information on monitoring the quality system*.