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For the first time in the UK, a new, colorful type of barcode technology developed by a Spanish company is being used in food packaging. Its goal is to assist blind and partially sighted people in identifying products in stores and gaining access to food health and safety information. “I don’t go shopping very much anymore since I can’t do it without help,” Beth Fowler, who is 19 years old, explains. “I can’t see most things because I can’t see.” She attends Liverpool’s St Vincent’s School, a specialty school for people with sensory impairment. “Supermarket shopping is a total and utter agony,” says Marcia Shaw, 20, a recent graduate of the school who is also blind. She emphasizes that store layouts change frequently, and you must seek assistance from store employees in order to locate what you require. However, new technology is being introduced that may be able to help solve some of these issues. The school has been participating in an experiment with Kellogg’s, a cereal producer. The company has been experimenting with colorful barcodes on its packaging that can be easily read with a mobile phone camera and an app. Normal barcodes, or QR codes, are not especially useful for blind and partially sighted persons since focusing and framing them correctly on a phone’s camera at close range requires a great deal of skill. These bright ones may be seen from up to three meters away and in low-light conditions. NaviLens is a trademark of NaviLens. NaviLens, a firm based in Murcia, Spain, created the technology. Its codes are already in use in public transportation and museums in Spain. It is also used by the New York City Subway system. A experiment was started at Heathrow Airport in London, however it was postponed because to the pandemic. The code will soon appear on all Kellogg’s cereal packets, starting with Special K cereal in January. NaviLens is a trademark of NaviLens. “”With the new app, I can simply select the food off the shelf and scan it,” Beth continues, “and view all of the information, such as the ingredients.” Everything that can be seen by a seeing individual is made available.” According to Dianne Waites, who teaches Braille and assistive technology at St Vincent’s School, many of the students have food allergies, making this device even more important for them. Text is read by tracing your fingers over indentations on a surface in Braille, a universal language that relies on physical touch. These indentations can be embossed on food packaging, however they take up a lot of room for a small amount of information. According to the Royal National Institute for the Blind, only about 10% of blind and visually impaired persons utilize Braille (RNIB). The name of the medicine must be displayed in Braille on all medicines in the UK, and patient information leaflets must be available to the blind and partially sighted. However, the vast majority of food goods do not now contain Braille on their packaging, and there is no legal or regulatory necessity that they do so. NaviLens is a trademark of NaviLens. The amount of information that can be presented is potentially endless because the NaviLens digital codes generate audio notes. Aside from allergy warnings, such as traces of nuts or gluten, the complete spectrum of information regarding substances, such as fat and glucose composition, can also be provided. When purchasing online, this type of information is already available for all products; however, when choosing products in a physical store on the High Street, it’s a different story; customers also want to access the information at home when cooking. There are a few additional technologies on the market that are aimed at solving similar difficulties. Google’s Lookout app utilizes picture recognition to detect products using artificial intelligence. This implies there’s no need for a barcode or other comparable marking on the product package, although the results aren’t ideal. Meanwhile, Supersense, an app developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), reads out any text that you hover the camera over in a computer voice, and it can also read conventional barcodes on food packaging. And Be My Eyes allows users to request help from volunteers, who can describe what they see in real time via a video call. Procter & Gamble added tactile markers to its Herbal Essences products in 2018 to help users tell the difference between shampoo and conditioner. This year, Unilever included Braille labeling to its Sure deodorants. Companies may opt to invest in quite different solutions as a result of the development of technologies, creating a confusing image for consumers. For the time being, individuals who download the NaviLens app will discover that it simply assists them in filling a little but crucial element of their shopping basket – breakfast. More than 95% of RNIB members want more assistive technology on devices that can be accessed through phones, according to a survey conducted by the organization. “I like to think of my phone as my Swiss Army Knife,” says Marc Powell, the RNIB’s strategic accessibility head and a registered blind person. He claims that his phone gives him access to all kinds of information that he previously couldn’t receive, such as bus schedules and courier delivery arrival times. “There hasn’t been technology that offers this much information all at once before,” he explains. “Standards must begin to shift; we all have equal access to information and to independence. Technology is playing a role in achieving this goal.” Beth, a student at St Vincent’s School, agrees that more widespread adoption of the technology would make a significant difference in her life. “If we can put labels on bleach and medication, why can’t we put them on food?” she asks. “They won’t be able to put Braille on everything, but it shouldn’t be too tough with these barcodes.” Dougal Shaw, a business reporter, can be followed on Twitter: @dougalshawbbc The Kellogg Company is a food manufacturing company. Cellular phones Food Visual impairment and blindness/nRead More

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