2024: Digital school meal planner focuses on nutrition and affordability

A digital school meal planner created by the World Food Programme (WFP), Imperial College London and AUDA – Africa Union is set to optimise school menus to make meals both nutritious and locally sustainable.

The School Meal Planner (SMP) Plus uses artificial intelligence (A.I.) to create more affordable, nutritious and local meals, and provides users with options for menu management and integration of communities into the menu design process.

WFP say:

“Over 40 billion USD are invested yearly into school feeding programmes worldwide. The vast majority of these funds go into food purchases, which are defined by school menus.

“Menu creation is a major factor that determines not only the costs, but also the quality of the meal, and the economic impact of the programme in the local economy. Traditional menu creation often relies on manual processes that struggle to balance all these elements and may take up to several weeks.”

They have developed SMP Plus to tackle these issues and are now able to provide it free of charge to governments and partners.

To find out more, and read their case studies, visit the WFP Innovation website: innovation.wfp.org/project/smp-plus