Hydrolysed meat in residential aged-care trial

A single-blinded cross-over design will be carried out, with 6-week intervention/control, 2-week washout and 6- weekcontrol/intervention. Participants will be randomised by block and assigned as Group A and Group B to receive either intervention (hydrolysed meat) or control (cook-fresh pureed meat) in the first 6 weeks. During the 2 weeks of washout period, participants will not receive any treatment and continue on their usual pureed diet provided by their aged care facilities. After the washout period, they will receive the alternative treatment in the last 6 weeks. Hydrolysed meat contains higher energy (1010kJ/100g vs 638kJ/100g) and protein (20.8g/100g vs 14g/100g) compared to freshly made meat purees. During the intervention, hydrolysed meat will be given at lunch and dinner when they usually have meat meals. During the control and intervention period, a 24-hour dietary record will be collected on two non-consecutive days each week using a plate wastage visual estimation method. During the washout period, participants will receive no treatment and therefore, they will continue having their usual diet, which is freshly made pureed meals from the foodservice. Foodservice staff will be trained by the research dietitian to prepare, heat up and store the hydrolysed meat. During the intervention period, chefs will continue to prepare pureed diets using their regular recipes but replaced the usual raw meat with hydrolysed meat. The presentation of hydrolysed meat and freshly made pureed meat have no significant differences. Nurses and caregivers are blinded to the treatment, they will collect the plated pureed meals from kitchen and serve to residents as usual.