From 1 November 2025, the strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards will come into effect alongside the new Aged Care Act. The updated framework sets 7 standards that outline what older people should expect across all areas of care – from governance and the care environment, to food and nutrition.
Within this framework, Standard 6 – Food & Nutrition, sets clear expectations for how meals, drinks and dining experiences are delivered in residential aged care homes, including a set of key outcomes that guide providers to meet, and exceed, these requirements.
What is Standard 6?
Standard 6 is the Food and Nutrition standard for residential aged care. It asks providers to work with residents to understand what they like to eat and drink and to deliver appealing, nutritious meals and enjoyable dining experiences. This includes good menu planning, genuine choice (what, when, where and how), access to snacks and drinks and regular review.
What are the desired outcomes of Standard 6?
Under Standard 6, there are four desired outcomes:
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Outcome 6.1 – partner with residents and their supporters to design meals and dining experiences that are enjoyable, varied and nutritious, using feedback to keep improving.
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Outcome 6.2 – regularly assess each person’s nutrition, hydration and dining needs, taking into account culture, abilities and key priorities like protein and calcium.
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Outcome 6.3 – provide appetising, safe meals and snacks with genuine choice, created with input from chefs, cooks and dietitians, and reviewed at least once a year. Residents should also have access to nutritious food and drinks at any time.
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Outcome 6.4 – support residents to eat and drink in ways that preserve independence, dignity and enjoyment, with staff trained to provide assistance when needed.
3 ways Bidfood assists with implementing and maintaining Standard 6
Bidfood helps aged care providers implement and maintain Standard 6 through the strength of our products, the support of our people and the innovation of our technology.
Product range
The foundation of Standard 6 is giving residents real variety in what they eat and drink. Diana Ashlakoff, Bidfood’s National Sales Manager for Healthcare, says Bidfood’s diverse range – backed by reliable supply – gives homes the flexibility to meet needs while keeping kitchens efficient.
“We have a huge range of tasty long-life, frozen and chilled products, so our customers can keep the stock they need on hand to offer real choice. It also helps cut down on waste and makes kitchens more efficient.”
Value-added, ready-to-serve and sous vide products are also proving vital.
“One of the biggest challenges we hear from our customers is finding time, so these options help achieve efficiency in the kitchen and also helps to cut down on waste That’s driven the growth of new value-added and heat-and-serve products. These aren’t substitutes – they’re genuine restaurant and café quality, created with even the fussiest consumers in mind.”
With Standard 6 supporting more flexible, on-request dining – and a new generation entering aged care with higher expectations – menus are shifting again, and there is more attention on how providers respond to the requests of their residents.
“We’re seeing more Baby Boomers coming into residential aged care, and that brings a real change in dining expectations. There’s also growing demand for flexible, on-request options and a variety of multicultural cuisines on menus.”
Some brands that Bidfood has carefully tailored to the needs of health and aged care kitchens to help meet these needs include:
Menu Maker – custard, gravy, mayonnaise, hollandaise and ready-to-serve mash potato are the little touches that turn everyday dishes into restaurant and café-quality meals.
Naturalaz – sous-vide meats are perfect for aged care. Sunday roasts, sandwich fillings, protein-packed salads or braises — they make it easy to serve quality meals without adding extra pressure on the kitchen.
Seafrost and Seacrest – portioned fish fillets, Australian whiting, hoki loins, squid rings, prawns and crumbed or tempura options are aged care favourites. They make it simple to serve protein-rich lunches, seafood snacks or flexible on-request meals.
Johnathon Jones – portion-controlled tray cakes, tray desserts and biscuits. Easy wins for morning and afternoon tea or on-request sweets, with consistent café-style favourites.
Casa De Mare and Kalós – savoury options for afternoon tea are a tasty and healthy option. Antipasto, dips, marinated vegetables and pesto pair perfectly with freshly baked pinsa breads.
Dewfresh – a broad range of frozen vegetables plus fruit and purées. From reliable veg staples to IDDSI-friendly fruit options, Dewfresh helps keep menus varied, seasonal and resident-focused year-round.
Jeffersons – not always the first range people think of for aged care, but options like pulled-meat sandwiches, ribs, meatballs and burgers will play a bigger role as new residents look for more choice in what they eat.
Human resources and value-add services
Health and aged care foodservice has long been a cornerstone of Bidfood’s operations. We’ve invested heavily in building and training our team of healthcare specialists, alongside developing meat, seafood and grocery category specialists who bring deep product knowledge to the table. This expertise helps aged care kitchens with the detail – from selecting the right cut of meat to sourcing seafood or manufactured items that work best in a care setting.
Brett Leskie, National Sales Manager for Bidfood’s private labels, explains. “Residential aged care chefs and cooks are often very creative in designing menus for their residents, but sometimes get stuck finding the right products to bring those ideas to life. Our category managers are true subject matter specialists, with specific expertise in meat, seafood and manufactured items. They can guide chefs to the best products to complete their menu – and when you bring that expertise together with a chef’s vision, the result is always a plate that delivers.”
Beyond products and expertise, Bidfood also offers value-add facilities to support aged care workers. From training sessions and professional development activities to event hosting and team-building workshops, we create opportunities for chefs, cooks and managers to grow their skills and strengthen their teams.
Our healthcare specialists also help organisations add value to their offering by connecting them with industry partners, hosting health and aged-care-specific tradeshows and working closely with groups such as the IHHC.
Integrated technology solutions, menu planning and nutritional information software
Technology plays a big role in supporting compliance with Standard 6. Bidfood works with aged care providers to develop integrated software solutions that help large, multi-site operations streamline their practices – including live pricing and inventory management through to allergen tracking.
These tools make it easier to demonstrate that residents’ nutrition and hydration needs are being regularly assessed and met and that genuine choice is supported in what, when and how people eat.
Our industry-leading myBidfood platform goes further, providing menu-planning tools with full nutritional and allergen information on every product. This helps chefs and dietitians design appetising, safe menus, supports on-request dining options, and ensures care homes can show clear evidence of compliance with the outcomes of Standard 6.
