Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to (a) assess and (b) improve the accessibility of food packaging for blind and partially sighted people.

The availability and accessibility of essential food information to all consumers is vitally important. It is already a requirement that food information must be easily visible, clearly legible and where appropriate indelible, in addition to there being a required minimum font size for mandatory information.

We are aware of moves by some retailers to provide information on food in braille format, and the government is interested in seeing how this works.

We know there are other exciting possibilities, including the use of mobile phone apps and QR codes via which consumers with visual impairments may be able to access not only the basics, but the full range of information available on the label, as well as additional information provided via the App or QR code. This is clearly an area of interest with potential and one with which we will be engaging in the future.