Food Coding best practices are put into place to provide for consumer safety, and to ensure that products at retail meet consumer expectations. Some requirements are set by industry convention, some by government regulation while others are set by standards organizations such as ISO.

Knowing which standards to adhere to may be confusing. Regulations can vary not only by the country in which production happens, but also by the country in which a product will be sold, and by the industry or category of the specific product in question. It is important for any manufacturer of food products to be aware of the prevailing legal requirements for their home country, as well as the regulations for any countries in which they may be selling their products.

Industries where Food Marking and Coding Standards Apply:

Produce, Dairy, Fresh Meat & Poultry, Beverage, Frozen Foods, Dehydrated Foods, Grocery Wholesale, Dry Goods

Substrates and Typical Printing Applications:

Cardboard, Plastic Containers, Plastic Film and Shrink Wrap, Glass, Metal, Egg Shells, Directly on Food (using edible or foodsafe inks), Mylar Bags, Curved Surfaces, Irregular Surfaces

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Date coding such as expiration dating, for meat (or similar products like poultry, pork, fish and eggs) is not federally mandated. There may however be regulations on a state or municipal level for product dating.

Also, while product dating is not federally required for meat or poultry, there are certain standards that apply to date marking and coding when it is used on these and other products.

“If a calendar date is used, it must express both the month and day of the month (and the year, in the case of shelf-stable and frozen products). If a calendar date is shown, immediately adjacent to the date must be a phrase explaining the meaning of that date such as “sell-by” or “use before.” USDA – FSIS

As a best practice, Date Marking is a valuable concept in food packaging. In general, food dating is meant to inform retailers as to how long a product should be displayed for purchase, and to inform consumers as to how long a product will remain at peak quality for consumption.

Types of Expiration Dating.

Several conventions have been adopted for date labeling of meat as well as poultry, fish, eggs and other food products:

• Sell-By Date: date tells the store how long to display the product for sale. You should buy the product before the date expires.
• Use-By Date: date is the last date recommended for the use of the product while at peak quality. The date has been determined by the manufacturer of the product.
• Best If Used By (or Before): date is recommended for best flavor or quality. It is not a purchase or safety date.

Related terms include:

• Open Dating: usage of a calendar date to express product dating. *See note above for FDA requirements.
• Closed or Coded Dating: are packing numbers for use by the manufacturer.

The labeling accuracy as well as safeness and wholesomeness of meat, poultry and eggs is overseen by the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).

The Labeling and Consumer Protection Office at FSIS develops policies and standards to ensure that labeling is truthful and not misleading. Labeling includes all forms of product identification, nutritional information, net weight, species identification, and claims related to meat, poultry, and eggs for human consumption.

More specific information regarding requirements for labeling and marking or coding of meat, poultry and eggs can be found on the USDA’s website, or by contacting your local department of health.

USDA – Food Labeling Fact Sheets

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KATONAH, N.Y., April 28, 2015 /PRNewswire-iReach/ — Marking and coding equipment supplier Markjet Inc., announces their expanded online ecommerce and support capabilities. Markjet has added eCommerce capabilities to their online presence, and begun to release a suite of tools aimed at helping businesses of all sizes find the right marking, coding and printing solution.

Markjet’s recently launched eCommerce site (www.InkjetMarkingandCoding.com) offers a wide range of marking and coding solutions, including the highly capable Weber Marking line of inline marking equipment, powered by HP and Lexmark Funai inkjet printing technology.

“These machines offer an incredible range of capabilities,” said Naomi Wells, Markjet’s Director of Client Services. “Printers like the iJet or X1Jet, utilizing HP cartridge and print head technology, are capable of printing on virtually any substrate. Clients that are looking to print on anything from flat cardboard boxes, to curved glass surfaces find these to be an excellent, cost effective solution”

Speaking further about the lines of equipment Markjet carries online, Wells shared “We have a commitment to selling and servicing the highest quality, and most reliable products in the industry. That’s why we also have the Reiner line of Handheld Inkjet marking and coding products available online.”

The Reiner line includes products like the Speed-i-Marker, a handheld case-coding machine capable of printing on absorbent and non-absorbent substrates, or the jetStamp graphic 970, a handheld graphics-capable printer with a self-traversing print head.

Many of the machines Markjet offers online are capable of utilizing specialty inks that are also be available through Markjet’s online store. Therefore, not only can many of these machines print on curved or uneven surfaces, some machines are even capable of printing on glass, metal and plastic, with the use of specialty inks like the QDX series of inkjet inks.

Markjet’s online store is only one aspect of their service mission. “Markjet is committed to delivering a high-quality online and off-line customer service experience. We provide tools like online chat, and live phone support for customers. We’re even happy to provide print samples to clients researching and trying to find the right solution,” shared Wells. “We’ll provide a print on a similar surface we have in stock, or customers can send us their packaging, and we’ll mark it to their specs.”

Markjet is a supplier of marking and coding equipment for industries as diverse as aerospace contractors and parts manufacturers to small craft brewers and food purveyors. Our cartridge based inkjet technology is also clean-room safe, making it perfect for applications like the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.

Enormous Creative is a New York based integrated creative agency, providing marketing, advertising and public relations services to a wide range of brands.

Media Contact: Enormous Creative | info@enormouscreative.com

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Continuous inkjet (CIJ) technology utilizes a high-pressure pump, which directs ink through a print nozzle at very high velocity. A Piezoelectric field turns this stream of ink into microscopic droplets, which can then be deflected onto the print surface (substrate) by an electrostatic field. This produces the main benefit of CIJ technology, which is its ability to project ink at relatively large distances from print nozzle to substrate. CIJ printing systems require that the jet be constantly in use and flowing ink to avoid clogging. An unfortunate byproduct of the continuous flowing of inkjet ink and solvents in CIJ systems is the constant venting of volatile and toxic solvents into the environment.

Drop-on-demand (DOD) technology on the other hand does not require constantly flowing ink and solvent, but instead the ink and solvent is sealed in a container, typically a cartridge. DOD is further divided into thermal inkjet and piezoelectric inkjet applications.

Thermal inkjet applications utilize heat from behind the ink reservoir to eject droplets of inkjet ink from the print head. Piezoelectric inkjet systems utilize the application of current to piezoelectric material (such as lead zirconium titanate) to create a pressure wave, which ejects the inkjet ink through the print head.

All of these methods of inkjet printing effectively “throw” ink from the print head onto the printing surface, allowing in most cases for contact-less printing.

CIJ technology is relatively mature, and has been in use for over fifty years. Because of innovations in DOD technology, and because of environmental concerns as well as maintenance needs related to CIJ technology, a growing number of marking and coding applications are turning towards cartridge based DOD systems.

Innovation in inkjet ink formulations have helped to expand the application for inkjet printing beyond home and office printers for printing documents and photographs. Dye based inks are typically used for printing on paper and absorbent substrates, while more aggressive solvent-based inks are capable of printing on plastic, metal and even glass. Other applications of inkjet printers include printing photo luminescent inks for security and loss prevention, and even organic DNA encoded inks.

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