An investigation of main meal preferences in nursing home residents

Nursing home residents are at high risk of undernutrition. Their nutritional status
could possibly be improved by identifying and serving meals according to their preferences.
Thus, the aim of the current study was to investigate basic sensory customization
factors of most preferred main meals in nursing home residents. In total,
40 popular Danish meals from two hospital kitchens and one meals-on-wheels
kitchen were chosen for the study. Thirty of the meals contained meat (pork, beef,
mixed meat, chicken, and fish) and the rest were plant-based. Twenty-nine nursing
home residents evaluated liking of appearance, flavor, and texture on a five-point liking
scale. The test was divided in eight tasting sessions, where the participants tested
five food samples per session at 10.30–11.30 a.m. Prior to the tasting sessions, the
participants were screened for nutritional risk and eating problems and level of appetite
was tested on a five-point category scale. The sensory meal preferences included
meals containing fish, beef, and pork and could be related to meal familiarity and
chewing and swallowing difficulties of old adults, which should be kept in mind when
making further adjustments in the meal preparation before served the target group.
Practical applications
Product development and sensory meal customization are used in various ways to
improve food intake indifferent populations. When focusing on nursing home residents,
customization of meals could be a way to improve the nutritional status of this
target group. Before determining the exact way of customization, the actual acceptance
of the meal types available for nursing home residents should be identified. In
this way the sensory factors of high and low liked meals could be found, and the
product development initiated. To gain in sight into meal preferences from the target
group of focus, meal tasting sessions with nursing home residents could be used.