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Kellogg's UK to Launch Accessible Cereal Packaging in 2022 For Blind and Partially Sighted

by Rudy Sanchez on 08/05/2021 | 2 Minute Read

What started as a technology to assist with inventory management in stores, barcodes have evolved beyond supermarket checkout aisles, with codes getting used to present information to users on their personal devices. Now, restaurants use QR codes to deliver menus and accept contactless payments, and it was an absolute necessity at the height of the COVID pandemic.

What's more, the technology is improving rapidly. Spanish tech firm NaviLens' ddTags are a next-generation matrix barcode, and it can get read up to 12 times farther away than QR codes. It can also get scanned at an angle with a 160-degree field, read in 1/30th of a second, and you can find it in transit systems in Barcelona, Murcia, and Madrid.

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Unlike previous types of scan codes, they designed these principally for the visually impaired. Users don’t have to see the code, as they can scan the area for a possible code, and the companion app provides non-visual assistance, such as vibrations, to locate the code. Once read, the information gets relayed to the folks that are blind or low-sight via audio.

Kellogg’s UK has partnered with NaviLink to add ddTags to its cereal packaging, beginning in 2022, after a trial of the technology. Scannable from up to three meters away, the codes contain the allergen, nutritional, and recycling information that can be read aloud to the user or read on a smartphone using accessibility tools.

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“Over two million people in the UK live with sight loss and are unable to simply read the information on our cereal boxes. As a company focused on equity, diversity, and inclusion, we believe that everyone should be able to access important and useful information about the food that we sell,” said Chris Silcock, head of Kellogg’s UK, in a press release.

“That’s why, starting next year, we are adding new technology to all of our cereal boxes. I am proud that Kellogg’s will be the first company in the world to use NaviLens on packaging. We know it’s important that all packaging is accessible for the blind community to enable them to make shopping easier, so we will share our experience with other brands who want to learn more,” Silock added.