Aged-care food services need to support nutrition, resident choice, dignity and enjoyment at mealtimes.

This is reflected in the Strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards, including Standard 6: Food and Nutrition.

For rural, regional and remote services, accessing an onsite dietitian can be difficult.

Appetite for Nutrition provides practical remote menu reviews for residential aged-care services, flexible aged care, community meal providers and meal-delivery companies.

What is an MMQA-style menu review?

The Menu and Mealtime Quality Assessment, or MMQA, looks at more than a written menu.

It considers:

• Menu quality and nutrition
• Resident choice and preferences
• Meal service and dining experience
• Food texture and special-diet information
• Hydration opportunities
• The dining environment

The MMQA is generally an onsite review because it includes observing meals and the dining environment.

For remote residential aged-care reviews, we use a structured MMQA-style process to gather the relevant menu and mealtime information for dietitian review.

How does the remote process work?

Facility staff are essential for an MMQA-style remote menu review.

With clear instructions from the dietitian, staff may be asked to:

• Complete a food-service and dining-environment questionnaire
• Provide the menu cycle, recipes and serve sizes
• Share ingredient lists and nutrition panels
• Take photographs of the dining room and selected meals
• Weigh selected plated meals
• Record food temperatures for selected meals
• Provide photos of texture-modified meals where applicable
• Join a video call with the dietitian to discuss meal service and the dining environment

The dietitian reviews this information alongside the menu and recipes to provide practical findings and recommendations.

What does the dietitian review?

A remote aged care menu review may look at:

• Protein content of main meals and vegetarian options
• Energy-dense choices for residents with lower appetite
• Fruit, vegetables, fibre and calcium-rich foods
• Snacks, desserts and nourishing drinks
• Menu variety and resident choice
• Hydration opportunities
• Special-diet and texture-modified menu information
• Opportunities to improve food and mealtime practices

What about meal-delivery companies?

Regular menu reviews are also available for meal-delivery companies, community meal providers and Support at Home services.

These reviews are document-based and do not require staff to complete additional duties such as photographs, meal weighing, temperature checks or dining-environment questionnaires.

We generally require:

• The menu cycle
• Recipes or product specifications
• Standard serve sizes
• Ingredient lists or nutrition panels where available
• Details of special-diet options

This review can be tailored to providers offering breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, frozen meals or selected meals only.

Final thoughts

A remote menu review provides aged-care facilities and meal-delivery companies with practical dietitian support, regardless of location.

To discuss the right type of review for your service, contact Appetite for Nutrition.