How Orpea rationed food of his elderly residents

Meal recipe cards served in the group’s establishments, which “Le Monde” could consult, unveil a nutritional protocol that provides only the minimum protein, to the point that the use of food supplements is common.

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Seventy-five grams of meat, 8 grams of crushed rizz, 12 grams of liquid cream, salt, pepper, a little broth: such is the recipe for an individual portion of “mixed beef” served within the establishments Orpea.

The rationing of the diet of the residents of the French giant of the retirement homes, told in the work of the journalist Victor Castanet the graves (Fayard, 400 pages, 22.90 euros), shocked the opinion. Audition, Tuesday, February 15, by the Committee on Social Affairs of the National Assembly, the former Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Jean-Claude Brdenk Group swept these accusations, ensuring that the food was adequate, in quantity as in quality, with a Somewhat cynical argument: “What would be the interest of rationing food? (…) If you lower the number of residents by not giving them enough to eat, you lower your turnover.”

A document for the Group’s cooking teams, which Le Monde could consult, shows that the portions of food are barely sufficient to ensure the minimum needs of residents. “One goal, make you want,” says this guide dated 2012, which includes the detailed recipe sheets to produce the “mixed” food served at residents who are experiencing difficulties in losing themselves. For each recipe, the guide indicates, in grams, the quantities to be used. It also gives energy intakes. For mixed beef, they are 206.3 kilocalories and 15.6 grams of protein. Even completed with a carrot-celery muslin (77 kilocalories, 1.6 gram of protein) and a recomposed apple pie (213 kilocalories, 2.6 grams of protein), the meal remains chick, less than 500 kilocalories .

With fewer than 20 grams of protein intake, it is mostly nourishing, confirm nutritionists consulted by Le Monde. The elderly must consume as many protein as a younger adult, between 1.2 and 1.5 grams per kilogram and per day, according to the recommendations of the High Authority of Health, or a hundred grams of protein for a person 70 kilos. Or, the Orpea menus, even counting breakfast and dinner, are most often under the 70 daily grams. Contacted, the Group ensures that this guide is no longer relevant and prefer to highlight the ratio of the National Nutrition Health Program, which recommends 1 gram of protein per kilogram per day. It also ensures that “the average weight of an elderly person is 65 kilos”.

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/Media reports.