Food 65+: Adapted food products for active and home dwelling elderly (DAGELIJKSEKOST65+)

Seniors often have a functional loss of smell, taste, a diminished ability to chew and swallow, and a decreased appetite. This can lead to nutritional deficiencies for active seniors as well as the frail elderly. This presents an opportunity for food companies and ingredient suppliers, and by extension by industrial kitchens and caterers, to develop food products that are more suited for this group from a nutritional and sensory point of view. The main objective of this project is to draw up guidelines for developing custom food products for seniors that are nutritionally adapted, with attention for sensory quality. As a validation of the guidelines, several cases will be developed and tested in partnership with food companies. Two taste panels with seniors are set up. To complete the project, we study how the developed products should be presented in a retail setting.

Information is collected and generated with the aim of writing guidelines for the food industry. The various work packages include a literature study, a consumer panel consisting of seniors, and product development (including specific cases of bread, cookies, milk, soups and ready-to-eat meals). The products resulting from the cases are tested by the consumer panel and the marketing aspects are examined.

Throughout the project, the necessary knowledge is bundled and collected (nutritional, sensory, technologically, sample cases, etc.) for the preparation of guidelines for the food industry. By the end of the project these will become available to the food industry, helping guide them in tailoring existing products for seniors. The two senior consumer panels set up during the project will remain available after the project for research and development in the food industry.