If you are ever in doubt about what foods are appropriate to serve a resident with swallowing difficulties, try to steer away from these potential choking hazards.
List of foods that can pose as choking hazards for individuals with swallowing difficulties include:
- Bread – may adhere to the roof of the mouth especially in peanut butter sandwich or tasty cheese sandwiches
- Ice Cream – melts into a thin fluid that can cause choking
- Jelly – melts and cause aspiration
- Mixed consistencies foods – minestrone soup, watermelon, cornflakes with milk
- Medication – tablets and capsules are inappropriate for individuals on pureed diet
- Stringy foods – rhubarb, beans, celery
- Crunchy – popcorns, toasts, dry biscuits, chip or crisps
- Crumbly – dry cakes and biscuits
- Hard and dry foods – crusty rolls, apple, seeds, nuts, crackling, carrot sticks
- Floppy food – lettuce, cucumber, uncooked baby spinach leaves (adhere to the roof of the mouth)
- Fibrous or tough foods – steak, pineapple
- Skins – corn, peas, apple, grapes
- Rounds or long shaped foods – cherries, grapes, raisons, hot dogs, sausages (can lodge in the throat)
- Chewy foods – Minties, cheese chunks, fruit roll ups, lollies, sticky desserts, dried fruits, marshmallows, gummy lollies, chewing gum
- Husks – corn, wholegrain bread, shredded wheat, bran
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