Engaging Elderly People Living in Institutions in Eating Situations

Several recent studies have revealed a significant under-consumption of food in hospitals and nursing homes. For instance, at the Dijon University Hospital, 8 out of 10 patients consume less than 80% of the meals served. This has two consequences: an increase in the risk of malnutrition (some patients leave the hospital in such a poor nutritional state that they must be re-hospitalized within six months) and significant food waste. At the heart of this problem, the taste of the food is the subject of frequent and recurrent complaints from users. Although the food industry widely uses sensory methods to adapt its products to the taste of consumers, these methods are rarely used by the organizations that provide meals to care institutions.

The objective is to establish "taste commissions" in the daily practice in institutions for the elderly (hospital, nursing home), in order to improve the organoleptic quality of the meals served according to the expectations and preferences of the users. The principle of this system is to allow the users to taste the dishes produced by the kitchen of the establishment and to transmit these evaluations to the cooks so that they can rework the recipes according to the users' feedback.