Security, Cafeteria-Style

A Scottish school has turned to biometrics as part of a nationwide push to encourage children to eat healthier meals.

The cafeteria at Todholm Primary School, in Paisley, Scotland, has gone cashless and students are buying lunches by holding their hands over a palm-vein recognition unit produced by Glasgow-based Yarg Biometrics Ltd. It's the first school to use the system. Inside is the same palm-vein scanner from Japan's Fujitsu Ltd. that can now be found on thousands of bank cash machines across Japan.

The system relies on an infrared image of the palm of a user's hand. It reveals the pattern of veins present under the skin and from this an algorithm can confirm identity of the user. It takes into account identifying features such as the number of veins, their position and the points at which they cross and offers a higher level of security than competing technologies including voice print, facial recognition, fingerprint recognition and iris scan, according to Fujitsu.

Children in low-income families in Scotland are entitled to receive free school meals, but until now the system has relied on a number of methods, such as the kids presenting different colored tickets or queuing in a different line, to differentiate those from children who pay for their own meal. As a result, it's relatively easy to work out which kids are from low-income households, and some students avoid receiving their free meal to escape the stigma that might go with it.

Going cashless will make this difference invisible but replacement systems involving swipe cards have their own problems with younger children such as the cards being lost, said Alan Cunningham, managing director of Yarg Biometrics Ltd., in an interview...

It was installed about six weeks ago and the school is so-far very happy with it, he said. "The kids love it," said Cunningham. "It's the whole James Bond thing..."

The Scottish Executive wants all 1,800 primary schools across the country to go cashless over the next five years and has earmarked £70 million (US$131 million) for the "Hungry for Success" meals initiative. Yarg says the system can also be extended to room access control and as a way to sign kids into each class they attend...