A nursing home in Warrnambool has created a new sausage that people with swallowing difficulties can eat.

Lyndoch Living's high care dementia ward puts on a weekly barbecue for its residents, but until recently many of them missed out.

Difficulty swallowing is common among people with dementia, and they can only eat soft-textured foods.

Lyndoch Living hotel services manager Simon Corbett is the brains behind the new sausage.

"We had a guy that wouldn't eat his meal because everyone else was eating a sausage and he wasn't," Mr Corbett said.

"First time he sat down [with the new sausage] he ate about five."

The sausage invented by Lyndoch Living helps combat malnutrition, and gives residents a chance to feed themselves. ( ABC Rural: Jess Davis )

The challenge is finding a binding agent that is soft enough for residents to eat, but firm enough to maintain the sausage shape.

Up until now Mr Corbett and his team have been using egg whites, but they are hoping to find a better stabiliser.

"Some are good when you heat them up and some are good when you freeze them, but very few of them do both," he said.

Boosting protein intake for residents

Lyndoch Living has teamed up with the CSIRO and a local meat company to improve the sausage and make it more widely available.

Malnutrition is a common problem in aged care facilities, and Mr Corbett said the binding agent also affected the protein levels of the sausage.

"Protein's a really important part of the diet in aged care," he said.

"That's where we're really hoping the CSIRO will come into play with it."

Joyce, a resident at the Lyndoch Living nursing home, bites into a sausage in the dining room. ( ABC Rural: Jess Davis )

Making food that looks like food

Mr Corbett said residents were more likely to eat something that looked like food, and he initially started with a sausage because of its simple shape.

"Most people offer a vitamised service to someone, but people with dementia don't recognise that as food," he said.

As well as providing food that looks like food, Mr Corbett is hoping the texture-modified sausage will taste like a sausage.

"Everyone knows the best bit of a sausage is the burnt bit on the outside — that's where all the flavour is," he said.

"We're not there yet, but that's what we're aiming for."

Volunteer Matt Walmsley-Sims tends to the weekly barbecue at the nursing home in Warrnambool. ( ABC Rural: Jess Davis )

Power of food to evoke memories

Mr Corbett is passionate about providing food to the residents at Lyndoch Living that improves their life.

He believes food has the power to evoke memories, and said residents may not have had any associated memories for months, when something they ate suddenly acted as a trigger.

"Everyone remembers food that their grandparents cooked or family meals that are really important," he said.

"They eat something and they go bang — I remember when my mother did this or my grandmother did that."

The sausage gives residents the chance to eat a familiar food. ( ABC Rural: Jess Davis )

Many of the residents at the nursing home cannot speak much because of their dementia, but it is clear the weekly barbecue is a happy meal time.

Those who are usually fed by a nurse can pick up the sausage and eat independently.

In charge of tending to the sausage sizzle is Matt Walmsley-Sims, who works at Lyndoch Living.

"It's the highlight of their week," he said.