Recently, the National Health Commission issuedthe ‘Technical Guide for Nutrition Instructor Services (Trial)’(hereinafter referred to as the ‘Guide’).For the first time,it treats ‘elderly care service institutions’ as aindependent, specialized application scenariofor regulation, alongside communities, schools, etc.,clarifying what nutrition instructors should specifically ‘do’ and ‘how to do it’ in elderly care institutions.

The ‘Guide’ breaks down the nutritional health services of elderly care institutions from a general concept into five specific, actionable work categories, and requires nutrition instructors to:

• Produce nutrition science popularization materials (printed materials, audio-visual materials, promotional courseware, etc.), regularly carry out nutrition and health knowledge promotion activities and effect evaluations, and improve the nutritional health literacy of the elderly population.

• Cooperate in regularly conducting nutrition screening and risk assessment for the elderly population, and establish nutrition health records for the elderly within the institution.

• Provide nutrition guidance and consultation services for common dietary and nutritional health issues of the elderly. Where conditions permit, guidance services on the use of nutritional supplements can be provided.

• Participate in the rational dietary nutrition meal planning of elderly care service institutions, in accordance with the ‘Dietary Guidance for the Elderly’ (WS/T 556) and the ‘Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Elderly’, and based on differences in chewing, swallowing, and digestive functions of the elderly, as well as doctors’ orders, provide basic meal plans such as regular diet, soft diet, semi-liquid diet, and liquid diet.

• Targeting the characteristics of different positions such as cafeteria operators, cafeteria managers, purchasers, chefs, food preparers, and servers in elderly care service institutions, regularly conduct training for staff on food safety and nutrition health knowledge, food procurement and storage standards,“Three Reductions“(reduced salt, reduced oil, reduced sugar, same below) and other related requirements.

   

Below are excerpts from the ‘Guide’ related to elderly care institutions and the elderly:

Notice of the National Health Commission on Issuing the Technical Guide for Nutrition Instructor Services (Trial)

Health Commissions of all provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps:

In order to implement the ‘Healthy China Action (2019-2030)’ and the ‘National Nutrition Plan (2017-2030)’, provide nutrition and health services close to the people, and based on preliminary work practices in various regions, our Commission organized the formulation of the ‘Technical Guide for Nutrition Instructor Services (Trial)’, which provides technical guidance on the job technical capabilities of nutrition instructors and key points of nutrition guidance work in different scenarios. It is now issued to you. Please organize, promote, and implement the relevant work according to the actual situation.

National Health Commission

June 5, 2026

(Form of information disclosure: proactive disclosure)

Technical Guide for Nutrition Instructor Services (Trial)

(4) Technical Requirements for Nutritional Meal Planning

1. On the basis of clarifying the types of meals, be able to calculate the daily energy intake and nutrient supply of the service recipient, determine the daily meal frequency and the energy and nutrient distribution for each meal. Follow the principle of a balanced diet to specify the types and quantities of food, achieving a reasonable combination of staple and non-staple foods.

2. Understand the physiological stage, disease condition, etc. of the service recipient, and determine whether their dietary type is a basic diet or a special therapeutic diet. Based on differences in the service recipient’s chewing, swallowing, and digestive functions, provide basic meal plans such as regular diet, soft diet, semi-liquid diet, and liquid diet.When the service recipient cannot meet daily nutritional needs through a regular daily diet, under the guidance of a doctor or dietitian, adjust on the basis of the basic diet to special therapeutic diet plans such as diabetes diet, low-salt diet, low-energy diet, low-fat diet, etc.

3. Be able to pay attention to the personal needs of the service recipient, understand the local seasonal food production and supply, the socio-economic status, religious beliefs, and dietary cultural traditions of the service recipient, and prepare a one-day quantitative recipe. Be familiar with the principles of food exchange, and be able to develop weekly recipes. Adjust recipes regularly to ensure food diversity. Where conditions permit, meal planning software can be used to assist.

4. Meal planning for group dining units can consider the age, physiological status, dietary characteristics, etc., of the diners, set reasonable energy target values, and maximize the nutritional intake of all members of the group.

III. Key Points of Nutrition Guidance Work

(1) Community NutritionHealth Services

1.According to the characteristics of the service population, in conjunction with National Nutrition Week,Food Safety Publicity Week and various key disease prevention and control promotion activities, adapt to local conditions, and through compiling promotional materials, holding lectures, organizing practical activities, and setting up“Nutrition and Health Corner”Various forms such as community bulletin boards, to scientifically popularize nutrition and health knowledge, advocate reasonableDietdiet, correct residents’ misconceptions in daily eating behaviors, physical activities, health management, etc.

2.Familiarize with the nutrition and health status of the target population, establish nutrition and health records, assist in community nutrition diagnosis, and propose population nutrition improvement suggestions and targeted education for nutritional issues such as unreasonable dietary patterns and insufficient nutrient intake, as well as problems like excessive food consumption.

3.Based on the assessment results of the nutrition and health status of service recipients and individual nutritional needs, provide nutrition consultation and guidance services, develop personalized dietary recipes, and where conditions permit, provide guidance on the use of nutritional supplements according to actual circumstances.

4.For0-6year-old children, women preparing for pregnancy, pregnant and postpartum women,elderly, patients with chronic diseases, and other key populations, in combination with basic public health service content and referring to current nutritional standards and guidelines in China, provide nutrition risk screening, assessment, and dietary consultation and guidance.Collaboratively promote hospital—community—family nutrition and health management, fully leveraging the role of nutrition management in continuous medical services.

5.According to the ‘Guidelines for Building Nutrition and Health Cafeterias’ and ‘Guidelines for Building Nutrition and Health Restaurants’, guide the construction of health-supportive environments in this community, including nutrition and health restaurants, nutrition and health cafeterias, nutrition communities/villages, good food environments, health trails, etc., providing professional nutrition technical services during their construction.

6.Cooperate withcarry outvarious population nutrition tasks uniformly deployed by the health administrative department. Collaboratively carry out epidemiological investigations such as food consumption surveys, population nutrition and health surveys, and investigations of nutrition-related disease risk factors, to collect nutrition and health information of the service population. In emergency situations,according to the emergency nutrition support and guarantee work plan formulated by the local health administrative department, participate in nutrition education and consultation for the population.

(3) Elderly Service InstitutionsNutrition and Health Services

1.Produce nutrition science popularization materials (printed materials, video materials, publicity courseware, etc.), regularly carry out nutrition and health knowledge publicity activities and effect evaluations, to improve the nutrition and health literacy of the elderly.

2.Cooperate in regularly conducting nutrition screening and risk assessment for the elderly, and establish nutrition and health records for the elderly in the institution.

3.Provide nutrition guidance and consultation services for common dietary and nutrition health problems of the elderly. Where conditions permit, provide guidance on the use of nutritional supplements.

4.Participate in the planning of reasonable dietary nutrition meals in elderly service institutions, based on the ‘Dietary Guidance for the Elderly’ (WS/T 556) and the ‘Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Elderly’, and according to differences in chewing, swallowing, and digestive functions of the elderly, as well as doctor’s orders, provide basic dietary plans such as regular diet, soft diet, semi-liquid diet, and liquid diet for the elderly.

5.Targeting the characteristics of different positions such as cafeteria operators, cafeteria managers, purchasers, chefs, food preparers, and servers in elderly service institutions, regularly conduct training for employees on food safety and nutrition knowledge, food procurement and storage standards,“Three Reductions”(reduce salt, reduce oil, reduce sugar, the same below)and related requirements, among others.

(IV) Catering and FoodHealthService Guidance

1.Assist catering establishments and food production and operation enterprises in establishing systems to prevent and resist food waste. Assist in establishing and improving nutrition and health management systems.

2.Provide consultation and guidance to catering staff and food production and operation enterprise personnel on food procurement and storage, nutrition and health knowledge, and reasonable cooking.

3.Guide restaurants/cafeterias and other catering institutions in managing oil, salt, and sugar, regularly track usage, and take effective measures to gradually reduce per capita consumption of oil, salt, and sugar in cafeterias.Where conditions permit, establish a nutritional information database for dishes,referto the Guidelines for Nutritional Labeling of Catering Foods for nutritional labeling.

4.Assist food enterprise technicians and catering chefs in innovating and improving foods, recipes, and cooking methods. Assist in developing“Three Reductions”foods and dishes, assist in designing personalized nutritional packages tailored to different consumer needs, guide service units (cafeterias, restaurants, etc.) in reasonable meal planning, and provide a variety of foods for consumers to choose from.

5.Provide professional nutritional technical services during the construction of nutrition and health restaurants and cafeterias. Guide the establishment of“Nutrition and Health Corner”and carry out science popularization and publicity activities. Use various forms to promote rational diet,“Three Reductions”and policies and popular science knowledge on prevention of nutrition-related chronic diseases, food conservation, etc., creating a nutrition and health dining atmosphere.

6.Provide guidance on food selection, guide service recipients to pay attention to labels and markings, and cultivate the habit of reading labels when purchasing pre-packaged foods or ordering mealsmarkingsthrough nutrition labels to understand the nutritional characteristics of foods. Can assist enterprises in setting up nutrition consultation platforms to answer consumers’ questions.

Appendix:

1. Example of Workflow for Nutrition Instructors in Elderly Care Institutions

Download link

https://www.nhc.gov.cn/sps/c100088/202606/8986c02c37b94179b8714fa7404cffb6/files/1.%20%20%E5%85%BB%E8%80%81%E6%9C%8D%E5%8A%A1%E6%9C%BA%E6%9E%84%E4%B8%AD%E8%90%A5%E5%85%BB%E6%8C%87%E5%AF%BC%E5%91%98%E5%B7%A5%E4%BD%9C%E6%B5%81%E7%A8%8B%E7%A4%BA%E4%BE%8B.pdf

2. Dietary Guidelines and Popular Science Resources

Download link

https://www.nhc.gov.cn/sps/c100088/202606/8986c02c37b94179b8714fa7404cffb6/files/2.%20%20%E9%A3%9F%E5%85%BB%E6%8C%87%E5%8D%97%E4%B8%8E%E7%A7%91%E6%99%AE%E8%B5%84%E6%BA%90-20260623103605308.pdf

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