PHOTO:
Pictures supplied to ABC investigations as part of a crowdsourcing
project on food in aged care. (Supplied)
…..Cutting
corners
Earlier,
a roundtable of three chefs with almost 100 years of experience in a
range of aged care services and kitchens between them suggested an
answer to why food standards were so poor.
The
commission heard the quality of aged care menus — described by one
panellist as "the one thing [residents] get to look forward to"
— came down to what the facility paid per resident.
For
$16 a day, the residents of the unnamed facility Lindy Twyford
manages were served salt-and-pepper squid, fillet mignon, and
occasional portions of frozen but high-quality produce.
At
the other end of the spectrum, a home spending $7 would rely on
secondary cuts of meat and mass-ordered vegetables, some of which
would be thrown out at the expense of serving sizes.
"You're
having to cut corners, you're having to use frozen foods, you're
having to use processed foods just to feed residents," chef
Nicholas Hall said.
Mr
Hall said food costs at some facilities he formerly worked at were
inflated by an ordering system beyond supermarket prices, in one
instance by as much as 100 per cent.
Chef
Timothy Deverell raised concerns about the lack of training to create
texture-modified foods, menus that had no input from residents until
they complained, and food served on open-air trolleys that was often
cold by the time it reached some residents.
Some
homes would place food orders using a "restrictive" system
in which a drop-down box offered just a handful of options, Mr Hall
said.
Facilities
would opt for finger food platters because they were "low-risk",
cheap, and didn't require a chef.
Some
meals would be repeated up to three or four times a week as providers
made a bid to reduce costs.
"They're
racing to the bottom to see who can feed for the lowest amount of
cost," Mr Hall said
Maggots,
rotten food
The
commission was also told of one "upmarket residential aged care
facility" which had a maggot-infested rubbish store between
service trolleys and a nearby fridge containing enough rotten food to
fill a trailer.
"[I've
seen] reusing food that's already been out, served to residents and
come back to the kitchen," Mr Deverell said.
"They
use that for texture-modified diets."
Mr
Hall said food safety audits were too infrequent and services were
given advance notice, meaning extra cleaners could be hired to bring
facilities up to scratch.
He
said nutritionists failed to properly engage with residents and their
needs…..
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