Are you in the Food, Beverage, Cannabis, or Nutraceutical industry? Products in these industries are usually consumables and require some sort of protection, whether it be preventing leakage of liquids, or stopping someone from secretly opening and/or contaminating your product. When selling packaged items, it’s important to make sure your products have tamper-evident product labels that make it apparent if the container has been opened, unsealed, or broken.
This is not only beneficial for the seller to ensure your items are in the best condition and safe for consumers, but it also benefits the buyers by giving them peace of mind knowing the product is fresh, safe, and hasn’t been handled by anyone after being packaged. While many industries can benefit from tamper-evident labels, they are especially useful in the Food and Beverage industries!
What is Product Tampering?
“Product tampering is the deliberate contamination of goods after they have been manufactured. It is often done to alarm consumers or to blackmail a company. Both tampering itself and threatening to tamper are criminal offences, as is claiming tampering has occurred when it has not. Although there have been few deaths from tampering, compared to the number of complaints about it, the potential for spreading fear and doing actual physical harm to large numbers of people is great.
As consumers, trust is put in companies to provide safe foods, beverages, and medicines. When this happens, retailers generally remove the product from their shelves and issue prompt warnings to customers. Even so, consumer confidence is impacted and the manufacturer and retailer may suffer financially. With product tampering, contamination is done deliberately and generally to goods that are already in circulation. It is then up to a forensic investigation team to trace the source and nature of the contamination before people are harmed.
A wide variety of contaminants have been found in products that have been tampered with. Mice, syringes, cyanide, needles, liquid mercury, and glass have all turned up in a wide range of goods. Probably the most famous case of product tampering occurred in 1982 when seven people died in Chicago after ingesting capsules of the pain reliever Tylenol® laced with cyanide.” Encyclopedia
Tamper-Evident Labels: Uses and Benefits
Clearly, product tampering can pose a threat as detrimental to a business as it is to the consumer. The cost of product tampering to a company can be high in terms of removing products from shelves, damage to the reputation, and restocking fees – if stores will continue to accept your product. With so much as stake, it’s a smart investment (and necessary) to be proactive with product safety. How can your company accomplish this? By ordering custom tamper-evident labels!
Tamper-evident labels form a seal over the cap of a product, indicating if the item has been opened prior to purchase. Using tamper-evident labels is the best – and easiest – thing you can do to protect your products, customers, business, and reputation. Just like any other custom label or sticker, tamper-evident labels can serve dual purposes. Not only is it serving as a method of safety, but it can also be used as an opportunity to include a QR code, barcodes, RFID, company logo, or social media icons.
Plus the branding will match the rest of your packaging and other labels, making the entire product design a cohesive one. These tamper-evident labels are especially useful for restaurants that offer carryout! Just stick one of these labels on a carryout order to assure your customer that their food hasn’t been contaminated!
Notable benefits of tamper-evident labels include:
- Helps build trust and confidence in consumers/customers.
- Prevents product tampering, contamination, or theft.
- Protects your products and business reputation.
- Prevents leaks and spills.
- Reduces the risk of selling damaged products.
- Shows that your business cares about the integrity of your products and safety of the consumer.
- These labels can’t be reused after breaking or replaced, thus discourages tampering.
A few examples of common uses for tamper-evident labels:
- Health and beauty: Products such as lotions, soaps, oils, or chapstick caps.
- Restaurant and grocery: Carry-out containers or food delivery packages.
- Beverages: Over the opening and container of wine bottles and spirits.
- Shipping: Securing envelopes, packages, and crates.
FDA Requirements
According to the FDA, Tamper-Evident Packaging & Labeling requirements include:
- Identifying all tamper-evident features and any capsule sealing technology
- Placing labeling prominently on the package
- Placing labeling to be unaffected if the feature is breached or missing
- Providing one or more indicators or barriers to package tampering
- Ensuring package cannot be duplicated easily – distinctive by design
- Ensuring packaging remains intact during handling up to retail display
Designing Custom Tamper-Evident Labels and Seals with M&R Label
Don’t put your customers, brand, and products at risk of contamination when the solution is simple! Tamper-evident labels and seals offer a simple and effective means of securing products for a variety of industries. Allow the label experts at M&R Label to make sure you have the best tamper-evident label or seal solution for your product. When choosing a custom label printer, make sure they are well-versed in the FDA regulations for your industry…we know we are!
M&R Label will make sure your temper-evident seals match the branding on the rest of your packaging. Our team can print any unique font, vibrant color, or image you need – on any type of material and shape! We highly recommend making sure these labels and stickers are created with waterproof and oil-resistant label materials – you never know what kind of weather conditions, temperatures, or oily hands they may be exposed to! Also think about the laminate finish you prefer, such as gloss or matte. Learn more about label design here!
In this highly competitive market, it’s critical to make sure you’re using the best product safety solutions possible! Whether your business is in the Food, Beverage, Cannabis, or Nutraceutical industries, one thing is certain – all of these items need protective labels & packaging. We’re proud to create and print custom label & packaging solutions for clients of every industry. Ask to see our portfolio for samples.
As your chosen custom label printer in Chicago, we guarantee quick turnaround, high quality materials, and creative label design. Countless companies across different industries continually call on our expertise and depend on our express service. Businesses have put their trust in M&R Label time and time again since 1989.
