Introduction

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In healthcare facilities — hospitals, nursing homes, or senior living residences — meals play a crucial role: they are simultaneously care, routine, and a source of pleasure.

Yet behind this everyday moment, two structural issues persist:

• Food waste, often invisible but massive
• Malnutrition, often detected too late, even though it is preventable

These two issues are closely linked. And yet, today, no tool allows facilities to precisely track what is eaten, refused, or left on the plate.

What if AI could bring clarity — and enable action?
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1. The taboo figure: 30 to 50% of meals are wasted

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International scientific literature is unanimous: between one-third and one-half of served meals are not consumed.

🇵🇹 Portugal: 56% waste on hot meals

🇨🇦 Canada: 28 to 50% depending on hospital units

🇪🇺 Europe: 25 to 40% on average in hospitals

🇦🇺 Australia: 30% of served food not consumed

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👉 These figures do not come from approximate audits, but from large clinical studies such as nutritionDay or Health Care Without Harm Europe.

Food waste is a symptom of deeper issues:

• Poorly calibrated portions
• Menus that are poorly accepted
• Inappropriate textures
• Low food intake
• Errors in dietary prescriptions

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2. Malnutrition doubles mortality… yet remains invisible

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The link between low food intake and malnutrition is well established.

📌 Eating less than 25% of a meal doubles the risk of death within 90 days

📌 Residents who require assistance to eat have a 3 to 4 times higher mortality risk if their intake is low

📌 On average, 1 out of 2 hospitalized patients does not finish their tray

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Yet:

• No systematic tool is used to track actual intake
• Paper records are unusable
• Malnutrition is often detected only after weight loss or complications

🎯 What is not measured cannot be anticipated.

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3. Why does no one really know what is being eaten?

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The issue is structural.

Today, in most facilities, meal monitoring relies on:

• Subjective visual observations
• Paper forms filled in at the end of service
• Tedious spreadsheets, updated inconsistently

Result:

• No traceability
• No automated analysis
• No correlation with care plans

And meanwhile:

• Malnutrition progresses
• Dishes are increasingly refused
• Costs continue to rise

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4. Skeal: measure, understand, and act in under 20 seconds

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Skeal is a SaaS solution that enables staff to photograph trays before and after meals, letting AI:

• Automatically recognize dishes
• Detect leftovers and estimate consumed portions
• Calculate absorbed nutrients (proteins, kcal, etc.)
• Identify wasted dishes and residents at risk
• Generate dashboards for care and food service teams

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🕐 Average time: less than 20 seconds per resident

✅ Compatible with existing practices

✅ No added workload for caregivers

✅ Traceable, usable, and visualized data

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5. Expected outcomes

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Facilities using Skeal can expect:

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🎯 A complete alignment of clinical, economic, and environmental impact.

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6. Food service: a strategic lever still underused

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When we think about healthcare performance, we think about medicine, equipment, treatments.

But we often forget that:

• Food service is the 2nd or 3rd largest expense
• Malnutrition can cost up to €10,000 per year per resident in nursing homes
• Food waste costs over €150,000 per year in some hospitals
  

What if food became a management and decision-making tool?

With Skeal, it can.

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Conclusion: measuring means transforming

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It is time to bring nutrition and food service out of the blind spot.

With Skeal, healthcare facilities finally gain:

• Automated measurement of actual intake
• Tools to adapt portions and textures
• Actionable clinical data for prevention
• A powerful lever to reduce food waste
  

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💡 Because eating well is caring well.

👉 Want to learn more?

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Contact us to test Skeal in your facilities.

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