Common questions

What IDDSI level is easy to chew?

Easy to Chew is IDDSI Level 7, usually written “Level 7 EC” to separate it from Level 7 Regular. It is everyday food that is soft and tender, with no piece-size limit — but hard, tough, chewy, fibrous, stringy, and crunchy textures are still excluded.

Level 7 is the only level with two distinct forms. Level 7 Regular means normal food with no texture restriction at all. Level 7 Easy to Chew means normal-looking food chosen and cooked to be soft and tender throughout.

The absence of a size limit is the practical difference from Level 6. At Level 7 EC the person is expected to bite off a safe amount themselves and chew it, so food does not have to arrive pre-cut to 1.5 cm.

“No size limit” is not “anything goes.” Nuts, crusty bread, tough meat, and other hard, crunchy, or stringy foods still fail Easy to Chew. The test is that food breaks apart easily with the side of a fork or spoon.

Level 7 EC is not intended for someone with an identified increased choking risk unless a clinician gives specific written guidance for that person.

Your speech-language pathologist decides which form of Level 7 applies, and whether it applies at all. This page explains the terminology only.