Carol Houghton: Label innovation at our fingertips
Since starting at Labels & Labeling I’ve become aware of the standards put in place to protect consumers’ health, particularly with regards to ink migration and adhesives for food applications.
It has occurred to me when buying fruit and vegetables, having peeled off the label and bitten into it, if some of the label’s residue has been left on the skin which I am then chewing on. Furthermore – as an example – apples are displayed loose in cardboard boxes; I’ll rummage through until I find the greenest apple, one without any bruises and that doesn’t have the slightly mottled brown patch near the stem. Who knows whose hands have been all over the apple I might select, or where their hands have been. I might rinse the apple under the tap, but what does that do? I’m sure it doesn’t remove the adhesive left from the label nor the germs from other shoppers, let alone the pesticides used for growing.
L&L’s North American editor, Danielle Jerschefske, recently sent me an interesting link; designer Scott Amron has created an innovative alternative to the fruit label. Like other labels, the Fruitwash Label displays price look-up codes for fast and accurate check-out; the clever part is activated when washed or rubbed with water, causing it to dissolve into ‘an organic fruit cleansing produce wash’. The soap helps removes wax, pesticides, fungicides, dirt and bacteria.
In my last blog I mentioned the HomePlus story: using QR codes to ‘turn waiting time into shopping time’. Frosta in Poland has begun using the codes to make consumers’ lives easier in another way. When scanning a code printed on the packaging of Frosta’s frozen pan fried vegetable products, the consumer is taken to a website of recipe suggestions and ways to prepare the product. Once a consumer selects a meal from this site, they are provided with a list of additional ingredients needed to help them complete their shopping. A paper version of the recipe can also be printed.
Please feel free to share any other innovations or technological advances that you’ve seen or heard about recently!
Carol Houghton
Editorial assistant
Labels & Labeling
1 response to Carol Houghton: Label innovation at our fingertips
This is another good one: A new printing system using DNA ink, derived from plant DNA, will be used by Nissha Printing in Japan to mark and authenticate labels on high value food products. Developed by Nissha in partnership with APDN, the system can also package a wide variety of products with its forgery-proof, high security layer. The ink can be printed on labels by various technologies – offset, gravure and ink jet. Nissha signed an exclusive agreement with APDN at the end of October to become the sole provider of the ink products in publications, fish and fruit in Asia. APDN says it is already recognizing sales revenue from the deal and is looking to increase its presence in the region. Branded food from particular waters off Japan, sometimes preserved with traditional, labor-intensive methods, are becoming popular and profitable in Asia. However, counterfeiters have been selling common foods as the high-value brand, destroying the reputation and market of the genuine product. Takao Hashimoto, director and chief technology officer, Nissha, commented; ‘No product is safe from the threat of counterfeiting, and this threatens public health and safety, especially in relation to food and other consumer products.’ The DNA ink printing system will allow instant verification of genuine food products, using a special handheld detector to identify the anti-counterfeiting ink – either at the point of sale or along the supply chain. Typical of APDN DNA markers, a second, forensic level of authentication is also available by sending the suspect product to a secure lab. It is claimed to be entirely safe and non-invasive. Foods are not altered. Nissha believes APDN’s technology is the most ironclad product authentication technology, stating, ‘It’s determination that DNA, as a trusted forensic form of authentication in courts around the world, provides the highest security for high value food and other products.’