This week the Royal Commission into Aged Care heard that some aged care homes around Australia were spending just $7 a day to feed their residents. Renowned chef Maggie Beer was quick to criticise the practice during a hearing in Cairns this week.

"They will have to use processed food, frozen food, frozen vegetables, fish that is usually frozen and imported, not even Australian," Beer said.

This was compared to some homes that were spending $16 per resident and serving salt and pepper squid, and frozen, but high quality, produce. Beer said the minimum budget should be $10.50 a day per resident, and for $14 some really good food could be produced.

Those living in aged care homes are some of the most vulnerable people in the world. The residents should be treated with respect. They have worked most of their lives and lived through wars. The reason for using in aged care vary. Some can no longer live at home because it is unsafe, others it's a matter of loneliness, and for others, it's family support not close by.

The meals, whether in an aged care home or a hospital, do not have to be expensive. But they do have to be nutritional. Nutrition plays a major role in the health of every single person - regardless of age or state of health. Food nourishes not only the body but also the mind. It's why schools have focused on breakfast clubs - they witness the difference in a child's behaviour and mental agility just by eating or not eating a meal.

For elderly people, malnutrition can lead to poor (or poorer) health outcomes. This can lead those people to hospital beds or increased health costs at residential homes.

Those in aged care homes enter in good faith. With an ageing population in Tasmania, we have to have this industry working to the very best of its ability, with the best care. Some could be achieving this already, others may have a way to go. But the change must happen now, not for the increase in demand in years to come.