Seoul City Hall Staff Cafeteria Pilots 'AI Food Scanner' to Reduce Food Waste

Carbon Neutrality Practices for Climate Change Response

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] On the 8th, Seoul City announced that it will practice carbon neutrality to respond to climate change by piloting the ‘AI Food Scanner’ to reduce food waste in employee cafeterias and conducting a zero leftover campaign.

The amount of food waste generated at the Seoul City Hall employee cafeteria was 293.3 tons annually (based on 2021). Although efforts have led to a decreasing trend in food waste generation, various measures are needed to reduce food waste further to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Starting today, the Seoul City Hall employee cafeteria will pilot the ‘AI Food Scan’ using AI technology to analyze the amount of food waste in real time. The ‘AI Food Scanner’ scans trays at the return station and automatically calculates the amount of leftovers. It uses a non-contact scanning technology that recognizes images and volume through sensors, enabling real-time measurement of leftovers.

Scanners are also installed at the serving counter and kitchen to collect and analyze leftover amounts, allowing adjustment of ingredient order quantities based on data, thereby contributing to reducing cafeteria operating costs. Additionally, a dashboard has been installed at the entrance of the employee cafeteria so that employees can check the zero leftover achievement rate in real time using the AI Food Scanner. When the leftover amount is less than 10% of the standard quantity, the zero leftover achievement count increases, encouraging employees to voluntarily practice zero leftovers.

Seoul City plans to analyze the effect of food waste reduction after piloting the AI Food Scanner at the Seoul City Hall employee cafeteria until December and expand its introduction to business offices and district employee cafeterias.

Meanwhile, to reduce carbon emissions through the spread of vegetarian consumption, Seoul City has been operating ‘Meals for the Earth’ once a week in employee cafeterias since May 2013, offering various vegetarian menus. Since December 2020, a daily salad bar has been operated to allow employees to choose vegetarian meals.

Starting today, to allow employees to experience alternative meat menus, sandwiches with alternative meat ham from ‘Better Meat,’ an alternative meat brand by ‘Shinsegae Food,’ are provided in lunch menus instead of regular ham. Promotional materials such as banners are also placed in the employee cafeteria to raise awareness of the carbon neutrality effect through alternative meat.

Going forward, the city plans to encourage business offices and district employee cafeterias to provide vegetarian menus at least once a week by sharing the necessity of vegetarianism, menus, and cooking methods. For the city hall, considering employee satisfaction, the city is reviewing expanding the frequency of vegetarian menu offerings (currently 4-5 times a month → to be expanded to 6-8 times or more per month). Also, when providing vegetarian menus once a week in employee cafeterias, various vegetarian dishes such as hamburgers, pasta, and sandwiches using ‘plant-based alternative meat’ will be offered to expand opportunities for employees to experience alternative meat and vegetarian menus.

Kim Sang-han, Director of the Seoul City Administration Bureau, said, “Since the Seoul City Hall employee cafeteria is a large-scale collective catering facility used by 2,000 to 3,000 employees daily, pioneering efforts for carbon neutrality such as reducing food waste and promoting vegetarian consumption are necessary. We will promote various activities to practice carbon neutrality, starting with the pilot introduction of the AI Food Scanner and providing alternative meat sandwiches.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.