PurposeGenerally, food intake of older consumers is not in line with dietary guidelines. Insight into personal health-related motive orientations (HRMO) in this target group is useful for developing tailored interventions that support healthy food consumption, a better understanding is needed. The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to identify older consumer groups based on HRMO; and second, to compare their consumption of different food groups and functionalities associated with a main meal.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey was filled out by 459 Dutch adults aged 55–90 years (mean age=68.2 years), of the Sento network including 800 vital community-dwelling older consumers.FindingsAnalysis revealed five clusters of older adults with different HRMO profiles: appearance and achievement oriented, active oriented, altruistic oriented, achievement oriented and less health oriented. In addition, these segments differ in importance of functionalities associated with a main meal, i.e., physical, pleasure or rewarding, and in the consumption of specific food groups, i.e., unprocessed meat, meat replacers and unsalted nuts.Research limitations/implicationsRecommendations for interventions and communication strategies to support healthy food consumption in the different HRMO segments are presented.Originality/valueThis exploration showed that different segments of Dutch older adults can be identified based on HRMO. Between these segments there are differences in consumption of protein-rich food groups and functionalities associated with a main meal.