Food Service Professionals' Experiences of Accommodating Dietary Requests and Texture Modification

Previous research highlights that people with specific dietary needs, such as texture-modified diets for dysphagia, often struggle to find suitable food in the community. However, few studies have investigated food service professionals' role in remedying this barrier.

The current study aimed to understand food service professionals' perspectives and experiences accommodating dietary requests, with a specific focus on texture modification for dysphagia.

Using a qualitative descriptive approach, food service professionals from a range of contexts (n = 13) engaged in semi-structured interviews about their personal experiences and perspectives on accommodating dietary requirements.

Through reflexive thematic analysis, four themes were identified: (1) consumer demand for dietary modifications drives change in the food service industry; (2) factors that facilitate accommodating dietary modification requests; (3) a lack of knowledge and training about dysphagia exists in the food service industry; and (4) accommodating dietary needs requires a collaborative approach.

Modification requests are becoming increasingly common in the food service industry and are resulting in menu and service changes. The lack of awareness and knowledge about dysphagia among staff highlights the need for speech-language pathologists to collaborate with both the food service industry and people with dysphagia, to improve accessibility of suitable food.

What is already known on this subject Previous literature has identified the challenges faced by individuals with dysphagia in accessing appropriate food in the community. However, there is a distinct lack of research exploring the perspectives of the food service industry in accommodating this population. What this study adds to existing knowledge With an aim to address this gap in knowledge, the current study investigated the perspectives and experiences of food service professionals in providing texture modified foods for this consumer group. The results indicated that the overall lack of education and training for food service professionals about dysphagia is contributing to reduced knowledge and awareness about how to make appropriate dietary accommodations. What are the clinical implications of this study? As such, there is a strong need for speech-language pathologists to collaborate with the food service industry to improve accessibility of suitable foods, and work with clients with dysphagia to educate and assist them in accessing suitable foods within commercial settings. It is hoped that the findings from this study will support the development of appropriate and relevant education and training initiatives about texture modification for the food service industry.