Country Court Care chefs enjoyed a Dysphagia Solutions training program run by Premier Foods this week. Country Court Care provide the highest standards of catering and hospitality in our care homes
Our chefs must cater for people with special dietary requirements and differing needs, ensuring texture modified food (TMF) is both nutritious and beautifully presented can be challenging.
The Chefs learned different techniques for purees, tips on presenting dishes and methods of thickening foods. They had a demonstration from Premier Foods Healthcare Culinary Advisor Louise Wagstaff who created a TMF shepherd’s pie with carrot and parsnip and broccoli. The Chefs then had a practical session where they put what they had learned into practice, creating a TMF main course and dessert.
Dysphagia is a medical term for people who have difficulty swallowing and is common for care home residents, especially for people living with dementia or Parkinson’s disease, stroke victims and other conditions affecting the head and neck. People with dysphagia may have symptoms such as storing food in their mouth, choking when eating or not eating at all. This can lead to dehydration, weight loss, aspiration pneumonia and ultimately death.
Texture Modified Food (TMF) is a pureed version of standard dishes with varying textures depending on the person’s requirements. Working alongside speech and language therapy teams care homes are required to provide food for residents that may require a Texture C (a thick puree dysphagia diet) or Texture E diet (fork mash-able dysphagia diet). As part of the course our chefs learned how to puree many different food types to the different levels required.
Premier Foods are one of Britain’s biggest listed food companies, employing over 4,000 people at 15 sites and offices in the UK. Around 96% of their products are made in the UK from quality ingredients sourced sustainably from British suppliers and farmers. Premier Foods manufacture well known heritage brands such as Hovis, Mr Kipling, Bird’s Custard and Bisto, all well known to care home residents.
Visit our Instagram page to see more meals created by our in-house Chefs: @caring_with_food
