"Active Ageing – Personalised food and meal solutions for health and quality of life" (Aktivt åldrande – individuellt anpassade måltidslösningar för hälsa och livskvalitet hos äldre. Diarienr 2013-02780) is a project that aims to maintain the quality of life and autonomy of older persons, through individual and personalised meal solutions that fit their needs and requirements. The target group are primarily the age 75 or older. Five work packages are included in the project. This report describes the work package that had the scope of developing a concept for the ordering, distribution and delivery of meal to the elderly.

Refrigeration technology and the cold-chain will play an important role in the concept by preserving the safety and quality of foods during its transportation to the elderly. Refrigeration technology and the cold-chain will also make it possible to prepare specific types of foods that meet the demand of the elderly. In particular for the elderly consumers that would like to eat at home and decrease their independency and overall quality of life. It is also important the value chain and concept for the business model must be flexible and taking into account needs from the elderly consumers at all stages, starting from ordering the meal, handling in the household and disposing of the packaging material.

An interdisciplinary approach – combining knowledge of ICT (information and communications technology) – Technology, food quality, packaging, logistic, sensory, and waste/return systems for the food that is distributed is increasingly necessary. As the demand for food for the elderly is on the rise, the development of new products, models and services might be facilitated by collaborating with SMEs (micro, small and medium-sized enterprises) and other business partners interested in delivering solutions for the elderly consumers. The concept for the ordering, distribution and delivery of meal to the elderly developed in the project can be used by other end users and/or for other products and services.