School dinners get parental control

School kids may have to say goodbye to their favourite lunch of burgers and chips thanks to new "Big Mother" technology. A new secondary school is set to pioneer the use of a retinal scanner, which identifies students by patterns in their eyes and makes sure they eat what their parents want them to. The scanner is linked to a database of information about the students, including what they can and can't eat.

Children at the Venerable Bede School in Ryhope, Sunderland, will pay their money into a machine at the beginning of the week, pick up their food and go a counter where their retina will be scanned. The till operator can bring up their details on the screen and reject any food not approved by parents. According to the school management, the system will also recognise allergies and cut out the stigma attached to pupils receiving free school meals.

The retinal scanner will swivel into action when the school moves to new premises in September. In a similar development at a Hertfordshire school, caterer Scolarest and the Institute of Food Research are piloting smartcard payment technology that records students' eating habits.

Vivianne Buller, vice-chairman of the Local Authority Caterers Association (LACA), commented: "More and more schools are looking at smartcard payment systems to increase speed and efficiency as lunch breaks become shorter. The data gathered is a by-product of this aim. LACA believes it is important that strict protocols are agreed with each school's head teacher on the use of the collected data about pupils. Parents have rights, but the children do, too."

Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 16-22 January 2003