Texture modified diet is commonly prescribed to individuals with swallowing difficulties, with the aim to maintain swallow safety, nutrition and quality of life. It is important that the texture modified diet is accurately prepared in terms of its consistencies (thickness), hardness, adhesiveness (stickiness) and size. Recently, the Hong Kong Council of Social Service, the Swallowing Research Laboratory (HKU) and the Food Research Centre (CUHK) jointly adapted the International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative (IDDSI) framework into a local guideline: Care Food Standardization Guideline (照護食標準指引). The Guideline follows the IDDSI framework and classified food and drink into 8 levels (from 0 to 7), with clear description and simple testing methods for each level. In addition, the Guideline also includes quantitative textural and rheological data on 62 common Chinese ingredients and dishes that were prepared across the IDDSI levels (Wong et al., 2023). The aim of the Guideline is to provide standardized terminologies, descriptions and subjective and instrumental testing methods for texture modified diet across settings in Hong Kong. In the presentation, the speaker will highlight the benefits of having a standardised care food framework across settings and the implementation of IDDSI globally and locally.
