How Cookaborough meal providers are Support at Home compliant

Support at Home requirements for Meal Providers set clear expectations around meal quality, dietitian oversight, and continuous improvement to better support the health and well-being of older Australians.

At Cookaborough, we’ve built systems and processes to make compliance simple for local meal providers, while also ensuring Care Providers and their clients can have full confidence in the services delivered.

Understanding the New Requirements

In November 2025, the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing released the Meal requirements for in-home aged care, outlining clear expectations for how meals should actively support the health, well-being, and independence of older Australians. These requirements emphasise not only food safety and quality but also nutrition, portion control, meal variety, and continuous improvement. They align with the Aged Care Act 2024 and are designed to ensure that every meal supplied under Support at Home is safe, nutritious, and appropriate for the individual’s needs.

Cookaborough’s compliance framework, ongoing tracking systems, and Accredited Practicing Dietician (APD) partnerships have been structured to directly align with these requirements – providing assurance to Care Providers and their clients that all Meal Providers on the platform meet national Support at Home requirements.

Delivering on Support at Home standards

For meal providers serving Support at Home Recipients, Cookaborough imposes compliance requirements that ensure the Meal Requirements for In-Home Aged Care are met. These are outlined below:

1. General Responsibilities of providers

Each meal provider must annually and upon onboarding complete and sign a Declaration that they have:

• Read and acknowledged their responsibilities in the new rights-based Aged Care Act.

• Read and acknowledged responsibilities in the Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS) Guidelines for Providers of Home Services.

• Completed a set of video-based tutorials designed to help them meet care standards when servicing this vulnerable cohort.

• All meals providers need to upload their Registration of Food Business and their Food Safety Supervisor Certificates

• All meal providers need to upload a Certificate of Currency for  Public Liability Insurance and, if applicable, a Certificate of Currency for Workers' Compensation Insurance.

• Included only items on the menu that are eligible for SaH funding.

• Have recorded and acted on feedback to improve menus, meal presentation, portion sizes, and delivery reliability.

• Have accurate ingredients, allergens, instructions and labels on their meals at all times.

• Are not providing meals to recipients at their premises

2. Meal Requirements

Providers must ensure meals, snacks and drinks delivered to older people through government-funded aged care services are nutritious and appetising, having regard to the older person’s needs and preferences. Each meal provider is required to annually engage an Accredited Practising Dietitan (APD) to conduct a documented review of meals, portions, and service systems.

All providers must pass this APD review to an acceptable standard to operate on Cookaborough.

Under the 2025 guidelines, an acceptable standard is based on a determination by the APD as to whether meals are nutritious, appetising and appropriate for this cohort and includes a review of:

• menu structure, individual meal portion sizes, meal variety and suitability, referencing the latest dietary requirements and older-person nutrition considerations.

• menu alignment with the Australian Dietary Guidelines, the national meal standards and the obligations under the Aged Care Act 2024 as reflected in the in-home meal guidance.

• client choice, cultural and dietary preferences (including texture-modified meals), allergen-labelling, and clear nutrition information.

A formal detailed report is supplied to the provider identifying any gaps or improvement actions.

All certificates of completion are retained by Cookaborough, with the right for Cookaborough to view full reports if requested.

3. Quality Assurance Framework

Meal Providers are required to have a process for ongoing quality improvement. Cookaborough supports this requirement by ensuring providers:

• Maintain clear channels (phone and email) for feedback from clients, carers, and Care Providers.

• Record and act on feedback to improve menus, meal presentation, portion sizes, and delivery reliability.

• Escalate any incidents or risks in line with the Aged Care Code of Conduct and SIRS obligations.

Cookaborough also operates a dedicated Support at Home Concierge line (03 7037 1139) which monitors feedback across all Meal Providers on our platform Implementation.

4. Compliant Invoicing

All orders for Support at Home Recipients include clear, itemised invoices that meet the Support at Home Program Pricing Schedule (2025), including allocating the cost to the Business Service ID SERV-007 – Meal Delivery.

5. Implementation

The Support at Home Meal Guidelines were introduced in November 2025, and the transition to the new framework is ongoing.

Cookaborough is actively working with over 300 Care Providers and more than 100 local Meal Providers to ensure the rollout of these requirements is both practical and effective, while recognising the operational realities faced by smaller local providers. We continue to engage with government, dietitians, and sector partners to shape consistent, scalable practices that ensure older Australians receive meals that are both compliant and genuinely enjoyable.

Beyond compliance, we also provide ongoing best-practice support and education - including APD partnership, sector webinars, and resource tools - to ensure providers remain ready for evolving requirements.

Value for Support at Home recipients

When choosing a Cookaborough meal provider, Support at Home Recipients gain more than just peace of mind around compliance. They also benefit from:

• Local connection – Many Meal Providers are small businesses based in the community, often offering rotating menus and a personal touch.

• High-quality meals – Many Meal Providers use fresh, locally sourced ingredients, setting them apart from mass-produced providers.

• Flexible ordering – Recipients can order online or by phone, with no subscriptions or lock-in commitments.

• Transparency for informed choice – Menu items clearly list ingredients, allergens, and dietary tags, and some providers also include Nutrition Information Panels, making it easy to choose meals that suit individual needs.

Our Ongoing Commitment

Cookaborough is committed to supporting meal providers so they can deliver safe, nutritious, and compliant meals to older Australians under Support at Home.

By combining strong compliance processes with the diversity of our Meal Providers, we give Recipients and their Care Providers confidence, flexibility, and better meal choices.

FAQs

How do you maintain compliance?

Cookaborough actively monitors compliance, both through system prompts and manual checks. Providers that fail to maintain required standards are suspended from servicing Support at Home customers until obligations are met.

For example, Cookaborough has a secure document-tracking system to ensure every uploaded compliance document and APD review is current or completed within the required time frame before servicing Support at Home Recipients.

How do you implement new requirements as the program evolves?

We opted to impose the most rigorous compliance standards on our clients so that they - and we - will be well-equipped to cope with any ensuing deadlines or additional obligations.

What about Police checks for delivery drivers?

Many meal provider owners do their own deliveries. For those who outsource their deliveries, the onus is on the delivery company to organise police checks. As the drivers do not enter a recipient’s residence without prior agreement, police checks are not enforced by Cookborough. Cookaborough makes sure that the nominated person is notified when the meals are about to be delivered. Unless the owner of the business organises with the recipient to wait for them to answer the door, the meals are left in a secure place which is communicated at the time of ordering.

Most of the meal providers are delivering to areas within a 15k radius to the kitchen and are contactable personally by telephone should any queries or concerns arise.

About Cookaborough

Cookaborough is a software platform and associated service that makes it easy for food businesses large and small to service their local communities with ready made meals. We are nationwide, with our office based in Cremorne, Melbourne.

Resources

Meal requirements for in-home aged care - Factsheet