Dutch retailer Albert Heijn has added a new Gen AI-based feature, Scan & Kook, to its app, as it seeks to use technology to reduce food waste and offer an improved customer experience.
The Scan & Kook feature suggests recipes based on images of ingredients that users share from their refrigerator or in store, the retailer added.
The feature was developed by Gen AI Labs – a start-up within Albert Heijn that was launched during its Food & Tech Week in 2023.
Sjoerd Holleman, director of strategy, products and analytics at Albert Heijn, said, “Within our company, we use Gen AI, which makes a positive contribution to the shopping experience of our customers and the job satisfaction of colleagues. We are working with our teams to further develop and implement this technology.”
The retailer is also working to improve the technology used in the feature, which converts the ingredients into personalised recipes.
Food Waste Prevention
Albert Heijn seeks to reduce food waste by 50% by 2030, compared to the baseline year of 2016.
It hopes to achieve this target by implementing various measures, including those based on technology, such as making stock and sales forecasts as sharp as possible and offering dynamic discounting on products that are close to their expiry dates.
Moreover, the retailer’s Allerhande online cooking and recipe platform offers tips on preventing food waste.
In March of this year, sauce- and spread-maker Hellmann’s launched an AI-enabled app, Meal Reveal, which suggests recipes. Developed in collaboration with Google Cloud, the app allows users to scan the ingredients in their fridge and receive recipe ideas based on those ingredients.
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