15 hours ago
Would you be happy for your gran to eat this? Disturbing 'slop' photo from Aussie aged care home sparks uproar - with a celebrity coming under fire
A nauseating photo of a processed meal served at a major Australian aged care facility has sparked uproar.
The meal, described as 'abhorrent' with an 'off-putting odour', featured a white blob of what appeared to be reconstituted potato alongside pureed green and brown mounds.
LinkedIn user Denise Abrahams shared the image to social media, claiming the quality of the food left a visitor to an unnamed residential facility run by a major commercial aged care provider 'shocked'.
Given the scene, Ms Abrahams questioned the effectiveness of taxpayer-funded nutrition programs such as those offered by the Maggie Beer Foundation - the charity started by the celebrity chef to improve food in aged care.
'I was annoyed that this still exists in light of the many millions paid to Maggie Beer to solve the problem of getting fresh, nutritious food served in facilities and other claimed initiatives by government for this purpose,' she posted.
Hundreds weighed in on the controversy, with many calling the quality of the food a national disgrace.
Some labelled the meal 'inhumane', while others accused aged care providers of putting profit before people.
'This is absolutely unacceptable,' said one.
'We are talking about feeding the most vulnerable members of our communities, our elders, and this is what's being served.
'A chemically processed, nutritionally empty plate that wouldn't pass in a school cafeteria, let alone a residential care facility.
'If we wouldn't serve this to our kids or our pets, why are we giving it to our elders under the guise of care?'
Be Fit Food owner Kate Save said the problem with most aged care facilities was the budget allocated to meals rarely met the needs of residents.
However, another person argued that while he wasn't excusing the poor quality of the food pictured, some people in aged care had dysphagia and other eating disorders that required food to be a mushy consistency.
'Anglicare has a food factory where they actually spend a lot of effort crafting and trialling to produce 'interesting' food to meet this need,' he said.
A government aged care sector performance report released this month identified food and nutrition as a top three risk area for the industry.
Between January and March 2025 staff from the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission visited 88 dining rooms across Australia to monitor the dining experience of people receiving care at those services.
The most common issue was staff incorrectly preparing or providing texture-modified food and thickened fluids.
It found the poor quality of meals was considered a result of 'cost-cutting' measures in place within the service and the need to source cheaper ingredients.
There were also concerns that resident nutritional plans were not followed and contributed to weight loss amongst residents due to insufficient food quantities and inadequate nutrition.
The Commission has established a Food, Nutrition and Dining Advisory Support Unit and hotline to help aged care staff and providers to deliver higher quality and more nutritious meals to people in aged care.
In 2025, an impact report from Maggie Beer's foundation claimed the program had improved food standards for 9000 aged care residents, employed 13 chef trainers nationwide, and conducted 157 menu appraisals over the past decade.
But with more than 200,000 Australians living in aged care, critics say the reach is still limited.
A survey commissioned by the foundation and conducted by Flinders University's Aged Care Food and Nutrition Research Team found just 67 per cent of aged care residents were satisfied with the food they received.
