Following on from World Sight Day earlier in the week, Kellogg’s has developed a new Coco Pops cereal box that will reveal the necessary nutritional information to blind shoppers before they leave the store through special technology.
Supermarkets have been working hard to improve their accessibility and customer experience, and visiting the shops has been made easier for people thanks to innovative mobility products and daily living aids. However, reading the nutritional values, allergen warnings and ingredients on food packaging is still a challenge for partially sighted customers, due to the very small print on the packaging.
The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) joined in partnership with Kellogg’s developing the packaging, which features a large print code that customers can scan with their mobile phone. Instantly after scanning the shopper can then choose to have the ingredients, allergens and other important information played aloud to them or they can opt to read it for themselves using various accessibility tools.
The new boxes will begin their lives as a trial line on Co-op shelves after the RNIB undertook research which revealed that 90% of partially sighted and blind people found it extremely difficult or impossible to read the information on packages.
Read Aloud Technology
The code on the box is unlike the QR codes seen regularly. NaviLens is this particular code developer and it’s used a black background and highly contrasting coloured squares on top. The code doesn’t need to be scanned directly over the top of it as the scanner can sweep the immediate environment surrounding their phone to find the code and with just a wrist shake, the information on the box will be read out.
NaviLens is currently used across Barcelona and Madrid on their transport systems, which makes journeys easier to navigate for those with visual impairments, but Kellogg’s are the first to use the technology across food packaging.
Constantly Improving Accessibility
Kellogg’s has been praised for raising the bar and leading the way when it comes to inclusive and accessible food packaging by strategic accessibility lead, Marc Powell from the RNIB.
“Important information on packaging can often be in very small print, making it difficult for blind and partially sighted people to read,” Mr Powell said.
He also suggested that it will be the first time that those with little or no sight would be about to understand vital information about products on the supermarket shelf for the first time.
