Meeting the nutritional needs of seniors via a seafood rich diet: Development and trial of cost effective, nutritional meals for free and assisted living seniors

Alexandra McManus; Wendy Hunt (Nee Newton; Rhona Creegan

doi:10.13140/rg.2.2.16141.03046

Research has shown a gap in the market for information around the types of protein rich, bioavailable meals that would be suitable for seniors who are capable of, and have the facilities to prepare their own meals at home. Seniors can experience significantly more nutritional risk factors associated with chronic lifestyle conditions than the general population. Inadequate nutritional intake in older people is common, frequently overlooked, and results in many negative health outcomes including malnutrition. This study was a mixed methods, quasi experimental trial involving both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods. The main aim of the study was to develop a series of low cost, nutritionally balanced meals specifically designed to meet the needs of seniors. The development of these meals was based on nutritional composition data available through the NUTTAB 2010 nutrient composition database (Food Standards Australia New Zealand, 2010) and information from a study that investigated the barriers and enablers to seafood and fish consumption, plus the knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of fish and seafood consumption amongst independently living seniors living in Perth Western Australia in April and May 2014. Seven of the 14 meals developed were selected for sensory analysis and tasting – Asian style fish, sushi sandwiches, Sardine Tarte with Sardines, fish chowder, pesto crusted Salmon, fish parcels and fish curry. A total of 110 seniors participated in the meal tasting. Participants were asked to provide feedback on the meals by scoring (out of ten) each meal for taste, appearance and overall score. Participants were also asked if they would cook each meal at home, if they would buy the meal if available in a supermarket for less than $5.00 per serve and to provide reasons on why they would or wouldn’t cook or buy the meal. The pesto crusted Salmon and Asian style fish were the most popular dishes for all scoring categories (overall, taste and appearance), while the fish parcels and fish curry were the least popular dishes for all scoring categories (mainly due to differing spice ‘strength’ preferences). The most common responses given by participants for not preferring meals were related to flavouring strength. Comments included “needs more salt”, “needs more curry”, “no flavour” and “too dry”. This was a little surprising as formative research with this group indicated a preference for mild to moderately flavoured meals. However, research does show that as we get older we become less sensitive to taste. Taste losses can be attributed to factors such as ageing, age-related disease, poor oral health, drugs including drug interactions and zinc deficiencies. The ‘tastiness’ of the meals may be improved by adding ingredients with stronger flavours such as fresh or dried herbs, garlic, ginger, onion, chilli, citrus juice and seeds such as caraway or mustard seed. The most preferred meals, the Asian style fish and the pesto crusted Salmon contained ingredients with strong flavours such as garlic, ginger, chilli, spring onion, basil (pesto), parsley and parmesan cheese, these ingredients undoubtedly improved the overall flavour of the meal. Given the overall preference for mild to moderately flavoured meals by the majority of seniors, rather than develop stronger flavoured meals, a ‘flavour pouch’ could be added to the pre-prepared meals and thus cater for a wider market. Asian style fish was the most likely to be cooked at home (86%, n=76) followed by the pesto crusted Salmon (73%, n=63). The fish parcels and the fish curry were the least likely to be cooked at home with less than 40% of participants responding positively to these meals. Interestingly, less than 45% of participants said that they would purchase the pesto crusted Salmon from a supermarket for less than $5 per serve even though 94.3% rated the meal overall as excellent and 73% said they would cook it at home. These results were similar for the Asian style fish and the Sardine Tarte. The fish parcels and the fish curry were the least likely to be purchased from a supermarket with less than 14% of participants indicating they would purchase these meals from a supermarket. The most common reason for not buying from a supermarket was participants preferred to do their own cooking or preferred home cooking. This was the same for all meals. In summary, the most pertinent findings from this study were that 60 % of seniors in the trial preferred to prepare their own meals at home. However, of equal importance is that around 40% said they would regularly purchase seafood meals that were tailored to the nutritional requirements of seniors if available in the supermarket for less that $5 per serve. Both of these findings have significant implications to the seafood industry. Firstly, there is a significant market opportunity to provide smaller fillets of fish or fresh/frozen portions of seafood sized from 80-100gms. Secondly, there are significant opportunities to produce smaller sized seafood-based meal portions specifically catering for the nutritional needs of seniors. Critical to servicing this market is the cost at which seniors are willing to pay for a seafood-based meal even if tailored to meet their nutritional and economic needs. Given the expected exponential growth forecast in the seniors market over the next 5-10 years in Australia and globally, this research has provided valuable insight into several major market opportunities available to the seafood market across Australia.

Meeting the nutritional needs of seniors via a seafood rich diet: Development and trial of cost effective, nutritional meals for free and assisted living seniors

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