Our elderly deserve better than $7 a day on food: Maggie Beer

Celebrated cook Maggie Beer has demanded action to improve the care of some of the most vulnerable Australians.

Celebrity chef Maggie Beer arrives at the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety in Cairns. Picture: AAP

Celebrated cook Maggie Beer has demanded action to improve the care of some of the most vulnerable Australians, decrying the fact that some aged-care centres spend as little as $7 a day on food for ­residents.

Beer, a long-time campaigner for better food in aged care, told a royal commission on Tuesday that a food budget of $7 per person per day was simply in­adequate.

“They would have to use processed food, frozen food, frozen vegetables, fish that is usually frozen­ and imported, not even Australian,” she told the aged-care royal commission’s hearing in Cairns. “It’s just impossible.”

Beer said a reasonable minim­um budget would be $10.50 a day per resident, but for $14 “you can do really good food”.

Chef Nicholas Hall said an aged-care facility where he worked had a food budget of $7.20 a day per resident. “It wasn’t great, that’s for sure,” he said of the food.

“You’re having to cut corners. You’re having to use frozen foods, you’re having to use processed foods just to feed the residents.

“At the end of the meal, if the resident was still hungry and they wanted more food, there was no more food to give them.”

Mr Hall said some aged-care providers and third-party caterers said they were interested in food satisfaction but were really only focused on saving money.

“They’re just racing to the bottom­ to see who can feed for the lowest amount of cost,” Mr Hall told the aged-care royal commission. He said one of the saddest things he had seen was a resident with dementia eating old food from the previous night off trolleys left outside a facility’s kitchen, after food service attendants’ hours were cut back.

“For an 80-bed residence, when they are paying half a million dollars each to move in, they’ve got $40 million. And yet they’re saving 50 bucks a shift and they’ve got $40m of their money in the bank. It’s just not right.”

The commission heard that menus were often centralised and no recipes or quantities given.

University of Melbourne researche­r Sandra Iuliano told the commission this meant that a snack of cheese and biscuits could end up being a quarter of a slice of processed cheese on four crackers.

“Many (aged-care facilities) don’t work to recipes; we have got no idea of what’s being provided,” Dr Iuliano said.

Researchers had found that facil­ities were skimping on the meat and dairy content of dishes in favour of less expensive ingred­ients that were not as nutritious.

A “lack of governance” in aged-care kitchens meant that residents were often getting one serve of dairy a day when it should be four, and one serve of meat when it should be two.

“We are compromising on the foods that would provide a lot of the nutrients that would correct the problems that we are now seeing­ in residential aged care,” Dr Iuliano said.

A spokesperson for the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety confirmed on Tuesday that it was considering whether to examine why dozens of Gold Coast nursing home patients were left to fend for themselves during a pay dispute.

Patients were evacuated from the Earle Haven Retirement Village last week after it was suddenly closed and stripped of equipment and other items, including food. The federal government and Aust­ralian Federal Police are investig­ating the forced closure.

“The royal commission is aware of the reported events at Earle Haven, and is considering whether to include this matter in its inquiry,” the spokesman said.

Additional reporting: AAP