New developments in the creation of food labels is providing bakery and snack producers with flexibility to run a wide range of different product sizes and types. Advances have been made in the following areas: printers, software, inks, and marking/coding technology. Of significant note, new label printing systems are designed to enhance product appeal and better communicate information on food content.
Trends include the need to update to new nutritional labeling guidelines, to comply with food traceability standards and to produce package labeling that prompts customer engagement. In additional, vendors see increasing demand for marketing tools such as redeemable coupons being added to food and snack packaging. “For secondary packaging, replacing the low resolution ITF-14 barcode with higher resolution GS1-128 barcodes, capable of containing more data, is a continuing trend,” says David Holliday, director of marketing communications, ProMach Labeling and Coding, Fort Worth, TX.