What's on the tray? Nutritional intake of Meals on Wheels clients

A letter to the editor. Meals on Wheels (MOW) is a community-based not-forprofit organisation that delivers nutritious meals to vulnerable clients in the community, to enable them to maintain their health and independence within their own home. MOW meals aim to provide at least one-third of the recommended dietary intake (RDI) for energy, fibre and calcium, and one-half of the RDI for protein, vitamins and minerals.1 A variety of options are provided to their clients to allow self-selection from a large menu choice of soups, main meals and desserts and a range of meal delivery options, ranging from 1 to 5 days per week. MOW also provides variation in types of meals provided (hot, chilled or frozen), as well as being able to support special dietary meal requirements, such as texture modified variations. Studies from Australia and other countries have demonstrated that even with the provision of home-delivered meals, some MOW clients still have a poor nutritional status because of their multiple medical and social risk factors.