The purpose of the study was to develop computer-planned school lunch menus for three different types of school foodservice maximizing food preference scores among children and satisfying such constaints as expense, nutrients, season and varieties of ...
The purpose of the study was to develop computer-planned school lunch menus for three different types of school foodservice maximizing food preference scores among children and satisfying such constaints as expense, nutrients, season and varieties of color and fools. Children's food preferences as well as frequency of acceptance of foods were surveyed nation-wide according to three different types of school foodservice. A menu planning program was developed by formulating a zero-one integer program which was solved by branch and bound techniques. A 16-bit personal computer compatible with IBM-PC/XT was used. The data base files were created by using dBASE Ⅲ Plus and Lotus packages, and processing programs were created by using FORTRAN language.
The contents of the computerized system show that when the program runs, the user should type inputs of cycle, season and types of school foodservice, then the computer lists a series of menus satisfying the criteria of constraints. After this, the best solution with the highest food preference score appears on the bottom line of the screen. When the user doesn't like the solution which is presented on the bottom line of the screen, then she can examine and select other solutions from the lists. This method makes it possible to approach the man-machine system in the desired form of computer use. Menus for three different types of school foodservice are generated seasonally. Adding new recipes and updating food cost change to the data base can be made, so that more feasible and economical menus can be planned. Menu lists are generated monthly, and nutrient are also generated on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.