Community-based canteens for seniors getting ‘smarter’
Print Edition
THE city’s community-based canteens for the elderly are getting “smarter.”
Thanks to facial recognition systems, seniors no longer need to show their health QR codes.
Meal plates embedded with microchips enable one-click transactions, and e-labels for dishes show indexes such as fat and cholesterol.
Walking into a canteen with two of her neighbors in the Lujiazui Subdistrict Comprehensive Senior Service Center in the Pudong New Area, Xie Xiaomei, 65, selected several dishes.
Each dish is attached to an electronic label that shows both its price and the nutrients, such as calories, sodium, protein and vitamin C.
The technology enables quick payments after dishes are placed on a scanner.
The canteen also accepts e-yuan payments.
“See? The whole payment process was completed within a few seconds. It is very convenient,” said Xie.
Xie lives nearby and visits the canteen at least once or twice a week since it opened last October.
“It’s hot today, so I don’t want to cook at home,” she said. “Digital payments have changed our lives, and I am now quite used to face-scanning payments.”
“Digitalization improves the operation efficiency of the canteen, and provides a refined approach to senior services as well,” said Xue Lina, a Lujiazui Subdistrict official.
The canteen is capable of providing 150 to 200 set meals daily.
Jiang Baogen, 72, was forced to use a wheelchair several years ago following a surgery. He had not dined out for years until the canteen opened, and is now a frequent customer.
“It’s five minutes from my doorway, and the food is delicious with discounts for the elderly,” he said. “I learned how to make digital payments from the staff here, which is very convenient.”
“Community-based canteens for the elderly are a priority, and the goal is for every subdistrict and town in the city to have this kind of canteen that is able to supply at least 150 meals daily,” said Zhu Qinhao, director of the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau. “A number of canteens featuring intelligent services, such as digital payments, radio frequency identification service plates and smart ordering, will be established.”
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