The Strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards for food and nutrition state that “for each meal, individuals can exercise choice about what, when, where and how they eat and drink.” Despite extensive research demonstrating the importance of choice in aged care, the concept of “acceptable choice” in mealtime settings remains poorly defined. In the absence of a clear, operational definition, providers lack practical guidance to meet this requirement consistently and meaningfully. This study uses a three-round Delphi design to develop consensus on what constitutes acceptable mealtime choice. It adopts an inclusive, rights-based approach to expertise, recognising that people living in residential aged care homes and their families are experts in their own lives and care experiences. Accordingly, residents and family members are included as Delphi participants alongside professionals involved in mealtimes and academics with relevant expertise. In Round 1, participants provided open-ended responses on what makes mealtime choices acceptable across domains of what, when, where, how, and who to eat and drink with. Qualitative content analysis generated over 90 statements. In Rounds 2 and 3, participants rated the importance of each statement using a Likert scale, with professionals and academics additionally assessing feasibility. This study will be completed in July. This presentation will report the final consensus statements and their implications for operationalising mealtime choice within the Strengthened Standards.