Ganavan beekeeper Steven Sunderland is buzzing to help make braille labelling campaign for food products become law in Scotland.
Mr Sunderland who is vice president of the Scottish Beekeepers’ Association and sells honey from his apiaries in Oban, is already looking at how he can label his own jars and encourage others to do the same.
He is one of more than 1,300 people who have signed a petition spearheaded by Oban campaigners and two other charities wanting to make that kind of braille labelling mandatory – currently only medicines are covered.
The master bee farmer who was the Scottish Government’s lead bee inspector before retiring, is on a mission to get other beekeepers and farmers countrywide to braille label their products after reading about the campaign in the Oban Times.
“It’s a quick and easy fix to do this even if the label just says honey for now. It’s an important start and it’s happening here in Oban,” said Mr Sunderland, who has kept bees for more than 30 years.
Oban and District Access Panel, Sight Scotland and Disability Equality Scotland are calling for it to become a statutory duty on food businesses and retailers to provide the name of the item and the use by/sell by dates on labels.
Their extended Join the Dots campaign now has until November 16 to get more signatures before it is reviewed again by the Citizens Participation Public Petitions Committee with a view to recommending that the Scottish Government formally raises the topic with Westminster.
You can sign it here petitions.parliament.scot/petitions/PE1997
Campaigners say food products without the labelling puts braille users at risk, especially those who have allergies.
Marie Harrower from Oban and District Access Panel is a stalwart of the Join The Dots campaign calling for action from the government.
“We have all been working very hard on this, the dedication has been incredible and this is another push to get the public to give us their support by signing the petition before November 16,” she said.
A recent survey by Disability Equality Scotland showed 76 per cent of respondents were in complete favour of retailers labelling food with braille.
“This was a great result,” said Marie.
Braille labelling is a quick and easy way for users to identify food products in their cupboards. Some people say technology such as QR codes can provide accessibility but there are issues with that, says Marie, including the practicalities of a person with sightloss managing to scan the codes. The best concept would be for QR codes to be used in combination with braille labelling for people wanting more detailed information on a product, she added.
“The need for braille labelling on food products in a no-brainer,” said Marie.