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The IDDSI Guy Featured in Care Home Magazine: Raising Standards in IDDSI Training, Dysphagia Support and Dignified Dining
- Andy Cullum
- Jul 1
- 7 min read
The IDDSI Guy Featured in Care Home Magazine
Andy Cullum, known across the care catering sector as The IDDSI Guy, has been featured in the July 2026 edition of Care Home Magazine in an article titled “Where Creativity Meets Consistency.” You can read the full magazine feature in the Care Home Magazine July 2026 issue. https://carehomemagazine.co.uk/july-2026/
The feature explores how care homes can use the IDDSI Framework to deliver texture-modified meals that are safe, consistent, recognisable and dignified for people living with dysphagia.
For Andy, this message sits at the heart of The IDDSI Guy’s work. IDDSI is not just about compliance. It is about helping care homes, chefs and care teams understand how to prepare and serve food and drink safely, while protecting the dignity, choice and enjoyment of every resident.
Who Is The IDDSI Guy?
The IDDSI Guy is the professional name of Andy Cullum, a specialist IDDSI trainer who supports care homes, healthcare kitchens, chefs and care teams with practical training around dysphagia, texture-modified diets and safer mealtimes.
Andy works with care providers to make the IDDSI Framework easier to understand and easier to apply in real care home environments. His training focuses on practical skills, clear communication and joined-up working between kitchen teams, care staff, clinical teams and management.
The aim is simple: to help care homes deliver food and drink that is safe, consistent, nutritious, recognisable and served with dignity.
What Is IDDSI Training?
IDDSI training helps care homes and healthcare catering teams understand how to prepare, test and serve texture-modified food and thickened drinks safely.
IDDSI stands for the International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative. The IDDSI Framework provides a standardised way of describing food textures and drink thickness levels for people with swallowing difficulties.
In care homes, this is especially important because residents with dysphagia may need food and drink prepared to a specific level to reduce risk and support safer swallowing.
Practical IDDSI training helps staff understand:
The different IDDSI food and drink levels
How to prepare texture-modified meals correctly
How to test food using recognised IDDSI methods
How to avoid unsafe mixed textures
How to improve consistency across different shifts
How to communicate clearly between kitchen and care teams
How to protect dignity, choice and enjoyment at mealtimes
For care homes, IDDSI training is not only about meeting standards. It is about improving everyday care.
Why IDDSI Training Matters in Care Homes
Care homes support many residents who may be living with dysphagia or who require modified food and drink for safety reasons. Without clear training, there can be confusion around food textures, drink thickness, portion presentation, meal service and resident choice.
This can create inconsistency between kitchen teams, care teams, nurses, speech and language therapists and family members.
Effective IDDSI training for care homes helps create a shared understanding across the whole team. When everyone understands the same framework, care homes can reduce confusion, improve safety and deliver a more consistent dining experience.
This is why Andy’s approach focuses on practical, hands-on training that works in real care settings, not just in theory.
Texture-Modified Food Should Still Look Like Food
One of Andy Cullum’s key messages is that texture-modified food should still look like food.
For too long, modified diets have sometimes been seen as bland, clinical or unappealing.
However, residents who require texture-modified meals still deserve food that is colourful, recognisable, nutritious and enjoyable.
When a meal looks familiar, residents are more likely to recognise what they are eating, engage with the food in front of them and feel included in the dining experience.
Good IDDSI practice is not just about achieving the correct texture. It is about combining safety with presentation, flavour, familiarity and dignity.
This is where creativity and consistency meet.
Creativity and Consistency in IDDSI
The Care Home Magazine feature highlights an important point: creativity and consistency are not opposites.
In fact, strong standards can give chefs and care teams the confidence to be more creative safely.
When staff understand IDDSI properly, they can prepare meals that meet the correct texture requirements while still improving presentation, colour, shape and overall appeal.
For example, a care home kitchen may be able to use specialist preparation methods, moulding techniques, plating skills and clear testing processes to make texture-modified meals more recognisable without compromising safety.
This matters because residents with dysphagia should not have to lose the pleasure, familiarity and dignity of food simply because their meals need to be modified.
A Whole-Team Approach to Dysphagia Support
IDDSI should never sit only within the kitchen.
Safe dysphagia support involves chefs, care staff, nurses, managers, speech and language therapists, activity teams and families. Everyone involved in the resident’s care has a role to play in supporting safer mealtimes.
A whole-team approach helps care homes improve communication and reduce the risk of mistakes. It also helps ensure that residents receive the correct food and drink from preparation through to service.
The IDDSI Guy’s training supports this joined-up approach by helping teams understand not only what to do, but why it matters.
When the whole team understands IDDSI, care homes can build a stronger culture around food safety, dignity and person-centred care.
IDDSI Training for Chefs
Chefs play a vital role in dysphagia support.
They are often responsible for preparing meals that need to meet specific IDDSI levels while still being nutritious, appealing and suitable for the individual resident.
IDDSI training for chefs helps kitchen teams understand how to prepare texture-modified meals confidently and consistently. This includes understanding food structure, moisture, testing methods, presentation and safe adaptation of familiar dishes.
For chefs, this training can also help shift IDDSI away from being seen as restrictive. With the right knowledge, chefs can use their skills creatively while still working safely within the framework.
IDDSI Training for Care Staff
Care staff are equally important because they are often the people serving meals, supporting residents and noticing changes during mealtimes.
IDDSI training for care staff helps teams understand why food and drink levels matter, how to recognise potential issues and why communication with the kitchen and clinical teams is essential.
Care staff need to understand that even small changes to texture, thickness, portion presentation or mixed consistencies can affect safety.
When care staff are trained and confident, they become an important part of safer dysphagia care.
Improving Dignity and Choice at Mealtimes
For residents on texture-modified diets, choice can sometimes become limited. Menus may be simplified, options may be reduced and meals may look different from what other residents are eating.
The IDDSI Guy encourages care homes to challenge this.
With better planning, communication and training, residents with dysphagia can still be offered meaningful choice. They can still enjoy meals that reflect their preferences, culture, routine and personal identity.
Dignified dining means residents are not simply given something safe. They are given something safe that has been prepared with care, thought and respect.
Why Care Homes Are Investing in IDDSI Training
More care homes are recognising the importance of specialist IDDSI training because dysphagia support affects safety, nutrition, hydration, wellbeing and quality of life.
Investing in IDDSI training can help care homes:
Improve food and drink safety
Build staff confidence
Reduce confusion between teams
Improve consistency across shifts
Support better communication
Improve meal presentation
Protect resident dignity
Strengthen evidence of good practice
Create a better dining experience for residents with dysphagia
For care providers, IDDSI training is an investment in both safety and quality of care.
Raising Standards in Care Home Catering
Andy Cullum’s feature in Care Home Magazine reflects a growing awareness across the care sector that texture-modified diets should never mean reduced quality.
Care homes should be able to provide food that is safe, consistent, nutritious and enjoyable.
Through The IDDSI Guy, Andy supports care homes and healthcare catering teams with practical IDDSI training designed around real-world challenges. His work helps teams move beyond basic compliance and towards a more confident, creative and person-centred approach to dysphagia care.
Book IDDSI Training with The IDDSI Guy
If your care home, healthcare kitchen or catering team would benefit from practical, hands-on IDDSI training, The IDDSI Guy can help.
Training is available for chefs, care teams and wider staff, helping everyone involved in mealtimes understand how to prepare, test and serve texture-modified food and drink safely and consistently.
Whether your team needs introductory IDDSI training, refresher training or practical support to improve modified diet presentation, The IDDSI Guy can help you raise standards and protect dignity at mealtimes.
What is IDDSI?
IDDSI stands for the International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative. It provides a standardised framework for describing food textures and drink thickness levels for people with swallowing difficulties.
Who is The IDDSI Guy?
The IDDSI Guy is Andy Cullum, a specialist IDDSI trainer who supports care homes, healthcare kitchens, chefs and care teams with practical training around dysphagia, texture-modified diets and safer mealtimes.
Why is IDDSI important in care homes?
IDDSI is important in care homes because it helps staff prepare and serve food and drink safely for residents with dysphagia. It also gives kitchen teams, care staff and clinical teams a shared language for food texture and drink thickness.
What does IDDSI training include?
IDDSI training can include food texture levels, drink thickness levels, testing methods, safe preparation, avoiding mixed textures, improving presentation, communication between teams and supporting dignity at mealtimes.
Who needs IDDSI training?
IDDSI training is useful for chefs, care staff, nurses, managers, speech and language therapists, catering teams and anyone involved in preparing, serving or supporting residents with texture-modified diets.
Can texture-modified food still look appetising?
Yes. With the right training, texture-modified food can be safe, consistent, recognisable and appealing. The IDDSI Guy promotes the idea that modified food should still look like food and be served with dignity.
How can care homes improve dysphagia support?
Care homes can improve dysphagia support by investing in practical IDDSI training, improving communication between teams, testing food correctly, avoiding unsafe textures and making sure residents are offered choice, dignity and consistency at mealtimes.
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