National Cheng Kung University and the Ministry of Education yesterday unveiled an artificial intelligence (AI) program that can assist school nutritionists in designing meals.
The program was created to reduce the administrative workload and costs for schools, and provide nutritionally balanced, but non-repetitive meals to children, K-12 Administration division head Yeh Hsin-tsun (葉信村) told a news conference in Taipei.
The algorithm can design a month’s worth of meals in 20 seconds, in comparison to humans, who would need 30 to 60 minutes to perform the same task, he said.
Photo: Rachel Lin, Taipei Times
The software can help control costs, use seasonal ingredients and generate shopping lists to facilitate requisition, he said, adding that a nutritionist is still needed to operate the program.
The calorie value of meals could be customized to accommodate students of different body size and conditions, he said.
Meals created by the AI consist of one main course, two side dishes, soup and one bowl of rice, Kaohsiung Municipal Renwu Elementary School nutritionist Hsu Chun-shan (許淳善) said.
The AI-generated menus on average used 400 distinct ingredients per month to ensure variety, he said.
Food items were selected for their nutritional value, as well as textures and flavors that schoolchildren could enjoy, he said.
The system can be customized to suit a child’s taste and calorie requirements, he added.
The AI knows not to make meal plans for weekends and national holidays, and limit sweet dessert soups to once a week, electrical and computer engineering professor Wang Jeen-shing (王振興) said during a live demonstration of the program.
The ministry allocates NT$2.1 billion (US$70.1 million) and US$1.5 billion annually to schools serving underprivileged regions to improve their kitchens and subsidize their food budgets respectively, Deputy Minister of Education Chang Liao Wan-chien (張廖萬堅) said.
The ministry also provides NT$3.8 billion in annual subsidies to domestic farms and seafood suppliers that meet quality standards and can furnish certificates of origin, he said.
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