Students dine at the canteen of Huangyang Experimental Primary School in Liangzhou district, Wuwei, Gansu province. [Photo/Education Department of Gansu Province]

Tianzhu No 1 Middle School, a boarding school in Wuwei, Gansu province, has introduced a digital monitoring system to help manage food safety for its 2,810 students and 289 staff members. The system tracks everything from ingredient purchases and storage to food preparation and sampling, allowing school administrators to monitor cafeteria operations online.

The system is a microcosm of Gansu's smart school meal supervision pilot program. In recent years, schools across the province have continued to deepen digital canteen construction, using digital technology to make canteen operations more transparent and safer.

In Lanzhou, all primary and secondary school canteens have been connected to the "Longshang Food Safety" system, with internet-enabled transparent kitchen monitoring achieving full coverage. An AI early warning system is also gradually being implemented.

Suzhou district in Jiuquan has invested 3.2 million yuan ($479,811) to build a smart supervision platform covering 36 schools, automating supervision of food ingredient approval, warehouse acceptance, processing, and sampling.

School canteens in Jingning county, Pingliang, have introduced an "electronic nutritionist" system that designs menus based on the season and students' age-specific nutritional needs.

Together, these initiatives aim to improve food safety oversight and help schools provide healthier, more nutritious meals.