From Idea to Prototype: Strengthening Food Safety Through Partnership and Innovation

At North Eastern Community Hospital (NECH), an idea sparked in with the aged care teams has grown into a tangible innovation aimed at improving food safety and consistency for people with swallowing and chewing difficulties. With grant support from the Aged Care Research & Industry Innovation Australia (ARIIA) and the Medical Device Partnering Program (MDPP), our team successfully transformed that initial idea into working prototypes — bringing real tools into our kitchen for testing and feedback.

Facing the daily challenge of preparing safe, nutritious and visually recognisable meals for people requiring International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative (IDDSI) Soft and Bite-Sized food, our hospital embraced innovation with purpose. Through the collaborative Ideas Incubator initiative — an ARIIA x MDPP program designed to support early-stage concepts — our project received both design expertise and commercial research support.

Over the course of the program:

• The partnership provided more than 250 hours of technical expertise from the MDPP and 30 hours of commercial research via ARIIA, blending practical insights with rigorous development processes.
• A multidisciplinary team encompassing design, engineering and manufacturing expertise worked closely with our kitchen staff to co-design and refine the tool concepts.
• The result: three novel food-cutter prototypes that aim to help kitchen teams deliver precise bite-sized portions (approximately 1.5 cm x 1.5 cm) quickly, safely and consistently.

Bringing these prototypes into our own kitchen for testing has been an invaluable experience. Having something tangible — tools our staff can handle, trial, and provide feedback on — has significantly accelerated our understanding of what works in real-world settings and where improvements can still be made.

Our CEO, Cara Miller, emphasised the importance of this collaborative journey, noting that the program helped move the concept from a simple idea to functional tools — all while keeping compliance, and the safety and wellbeing of our patients and residents at the forefront.

“I’ve been thrilled with the engagement and ownership shown by our staff throughout this co-design process,” Cara shared. “Investing time with them to explore easier, safer ways of doing their jobs has been just as valuable as the tools themselves.”

While testing is ongoing, early results suggest these prototypes have the potential not only to improve safety and consistency in food preparation within our aged care environment but also across a range of care settings — from residential aged care, disability services and palliative care to meal delivery services and childcare.

Looking ahead, we are exploring opportunities to refine the prototypes for greater durability, ease of cleaning, and broader usability across different food types. Discussions are underway about partnering with manufacturers to bring production-ready tools to market — continuing the momentum sparked by this program.

This project exemplifies how organisation-led innovation, supported through structured programs like the ARIIA x MDPP Ideas Incubator, can generate practical solutions to everyday care challenges. By working with skilled partners and empowering our own staff throughout the design and testing phases, North Eastern Community Hospital continues to build capability beyond organisational walls — contributing to safer, more consistent food service in healthcare environments broadly.

Read more here: https://www.ariia.org.au/node/2205