The Advantages of Digital Label Printing for Small Businesses
A good label plays a key part in promoting your product. Digital label printing allows small and startup businesses to enjoy the same level of quality as big corporations, even if they don’t want or need to order labels in huge quantities.
Zeroing in on the right number of labels for your business instead of over-ordering can provide you with several attractive benefits. Here are three ways that picking and choosing your order size through a digital label printing company can make sense for your business.
Time is on Your Side
When you need labels right away, digital printing is your friend. Unlike other printing methods, digital printing doesn’t require the use of plates. Instead, all it takes is the right equipment and a print-ready PDF file with your design. No plates mean less setup is required to get your labels ready to go, so you receive any press proofs or finished products sooner than you had before. These quick turnaround times give you more freedom to test different concepts or get your products ready to go, which is especially beneficial when you’re operating on an extremely tight deadline.
Save Your Money
A lack of plates doesn’t only mean quicker turnaround times. Having the flexibility to choose a smaller run of labels can be a very budget-friendly printing option. This is partially because you aren’t paying for plates or extra printing setup costs, but they aren’t the only reasons.
Waste can be one of the biggest contributors to losing money, and that includes when you buy labels. First, long turnaround times can lead to wasted time. Without a label, it’s difficult to sell your goods. The earlier you can get products on shelves, the earlier you can make a profit. There’s also the possibility that you may not be able to use all the labels you paid for. Sometimes necessary changes can render labels obsolete, which can leave you sitting with a whole bunch of labels that’ll just go to waste. With the option to do a smaller quantity of labels, you don’t have to be afraid of wasting money. If you need a large quantity, digital printing can still get you the labels you need.
Commit to What You Want
Remember those unexpected changes we mentioned? Depending on your business, they can be a result of compliance needs or a simple product change. Digital printing gives you a welcome level of flexibility when your business can’t afford to commit to a massive label printing job.
Importance of Food Labels
Food labelling is vital. Not only is it a legal requirement if you’re a food producer, it also helps consumers make informed decisions when purchasing food and helps them to store and use the food they’ve purchased safely.
Whether you supply restaurants or supermarkets, the requirements are the same. Therefore, it’s important you understand your responsibilities and why food packaging is important.
What are the Legal Requirements for Packaging Food?
As a food producer, you are legally required to appropriately label all your products. Failing to adhere to this can lead to severe consequences. If authorities deem you noncompliant, the first step they’ll take is give you an improvement notice, which will detail what you are doing wrong, which rules you have broken, and the steps you must take to comply and by when.
You can continue production after you receive an improvement notice, but you must take all outlined steps to bring your business into compliance within the specified timeframe. If you choose to ignore an improvement notice and are still noncompliant after the specified date, you will be committing an offence and may face prosecution.
Your pre-packaged food must include the following on its labels:
1.The name of the food. This must be a true representation of your product and must not be false or misleading.
2.A list of ingredients. You must use ‘Ingredients’ as the heading and list the ingredients used to make the product in descending order of weight.
3.The percentage of certain ingredients. If you emphasise a certain ingredient on the packaging of your product, such as ‘Chicken Burgers’ you must state the quantity of this ingredient as a percentage in the ingredient list. For example: chicken (75%). This is also a requirement if you highlight the ingredient with a picture or graphic, such as a cartoon strawberry on the packaging of a yogurt, or if it is necessary to distinguish the product.
4.Any instructions for use, such as cooking instructions if they are needed. This includes the cooking equipment, temperature, cooking time and any other specific instructions needed to prepare the food.
5.‘Use by’ or ‘best before’ dates. By putting these dates on your products, you will help customers store and use your food safely, as well as reduce food waste.
6.Storage instructions. These instructions help your consumers safely store products before and after opening the packaging, which will ensure they remain safe to consume. For example: ‘Store in a cool, dry place. Once opened, refrigerate and consume within 3 days.’
7.Contact details. Include the country of your business, the name of your business and a contact address.
8.Country of origin or provenance. You must not imply your product originates from where is was manufactured if you sourced it from somewhere else. For example, if the tuna used in your product was fished in Canada, shipped to the UK and produced into a pre-packaged meal, you cannot say it is British tuna.
Importance of Food Labels
Food labels are a legal requirement and they are important for many reasons. They help consumers make informed choices about the food they buy, help them to store and use it safely and allows people to plan when they will consume it – all of which help to reduce food wastage.
