LABEL FACTFRIDAY

The first product to be scanned with a UPC barcode was a pack of Wrigley’s gum at an Ohio supermarket in June of 1974. The gum was picked for the first scan to highlight that even very small items could be marked with a barcode. And to recognize it's place in history, this particular small but mighty pack of gum is now housed in the Smithsonian.

Due to what was in the early 1970's very expensive equipment needed to read the barcodes, it would still be several years after this first scan until barcodes really caught on. But by 1980, 8,000 grocery stores a year were converting to the use of barcodes and soon after they became the dominant method for ringing up and tracking purchases.

Today, the use of barcodes goes far beyond UPC labels in the grocery store. We see 1D and 2D barcodes in warehouse and distribution, shipping, manufacturing, healthcare, entertainment, transportation, education, consumer goods, hospitality and more.

The first patented flexographic press was built in England in 1890, although it wasn’t called a flexographic press. The early press used a water-based ink that smeared easily, so it was often called “Bibby’s Folly”, referring to one of its inventors.

In the early 1900s similar presses began using an oil-based aniline ink. The process became known as aniline printing. This aniline ink was used extensively until the 1940s, when the FDA classified it as unsafe to use in food packaging.

Sales plummeted, even after new, safe aniline inks were approved in 1949. Worried about the industry image, companies tried to rebrand the process, often to no avail. Ultimately, the Mosstyper, the Journal of the Mosstype Corporation, conducted a poll to select a new name for the process. Over 200 names were submitted before being narrowed down to three possibilities: permatone, rotopak, and flexographic. In the end, readers of The Mosstyper, of course, chose flexographic.

Today, those early safety issues are a thing of the past, and flexographic presses are used to print much of the world’s packaging and labels.

The history of HP Indigo stretches back decades. Indigo was founded in Israel in 1977 by Benny Landa, who was born in Poland to WWII refugee parents. His interest in print technology was peaked working in his father’s photo shop. His father was also an inventor and devised a camera using bicycle parts and pulleys that captured images directly onto photographic paper. Landa studied physics, engineering, psychology and literature in Israel and is a graduate of the London Film School.

After Indigo was founded, the first several decades of the company were spent primarily on research and development before several high-profile products were developed and released in the 1990s. Indigo really took off after it was acquired by HP in 2002. Today HP Indigo is widely seen as the global standard bearer for digital print quality, and Landa is known as “the father of commercial digital printing”.

In 2016, HP Indigo was honored as one of leading Israeli inventions that had a global-scale impact. The image of an HP Indigo press was also featured on a commemorative postage stamp honoring Israeli Achievements.

Contact DLS if you’d like to see how HP Indigo’s exceptional print quality can help your customers.

World War II (WWII) is widely considered the first time RFID-like technology was used – to help identify incoming airplanes. Discovered in 1935, radar was used throughout the American, British, and German military. However, radar signals used to detect incoming aircraft couldn’t tell whether the aircraft were pilots returning home or an enemy attack. The Germans got around this problem by having their pilots execute a unique roll maneuver that altered the radar signal. The Allies came up with a different solution. British researchers developed a system where they put transmitters on all British planes, and when they received signals from radar stations on the ground, they began broadcasting a signal back that identified the aircraft as friendly. That is the basic concept of passive RFID operation: a signal is sent to a transponder, which wakes up and reflects back a signal.

Today, RFID technology is widely used by not just the military, but by a wide range of industries to track and capture information about products, assets and inventory. Contact DLS for more information on how RFID labels can help your customers.

Before the first pack of gum was scanned with a UPC code, the railroad industry tried to use an early barcode system to track millions of freight cars as they moved across the country. Several companies were simultaneously developing tracking systems for this purpose. After competitive field tests of 4 different systems, the Association of American Railroads selected KarTrak ACI tags as a national standard to be installed on all railcars beginning in 1967.

KarTrak ACI was developed by GTE Sylvania. The tags consisted of a plate with 13 individual horizontal labels. The labels were made of a retroreflective plastic in blue, red or white, and could be read quickly from 9-12 feet away. The data from the scanner was then transferred to a nearby rail equipment hut containing the computer equipment for processing.

Initially, both the railroads and GTE Sylvania had high hopes for the system both as a profitable product and a way to streamline railroad freight operations. But ultimately, the system failed because the labels were difficult to maintain, and unable to withstand the elements. Battered by snow and dirt, the labels would become worn and tattered, leading to an unacceptable 20% or more failure rate. Unable to provide the data the railroad industry needed, KarTrak was phased out. Eventually, decades later the railroads adopted RFID tags to track their freight cars.

The failure of KarTrak underlines the importance of choosing the right label depending on use conditions. Contact the DLS label experts for help choosing your customer’s labels.

RFID has been around for quite some time, but its growth has been slow... until now. In the early 2000s, it looked like RFID was poised to take off. Walmart announced that it would be requiring RFID use for its largest suppliers, and everyone expected the use of RFID to rapidly expand. Except… it didn’t. Walmart ended up cancelling its pilot program and the use of RFID grew minimally for several years. Nearly 20 years later, RFID use is finally taking off. So what is different between then and now?

Standards – in the early 2000s there wasn’t a global standard, so one company’s reader might not be able to read another company’s tags. Today, RAIN RFID is seen as the industry standard, helping ensure that the same RFID technology will work throughout the supply chain.

Technology – RFID technology in the past wasn’t as advanced as it needed to be to truly realize RFID’s potential. Today, we have better readers, software, tags and printing solutions.

ROI – RFID costs have dropped dramatically in the last 20 years. The cost of both implementing a system and purchasing RFID tags has now made it an affordable option, with significant ROI.

Now, RFID truly is poised for significant growth. Contact DLS to learn about how RFID can help your customers.

National Barcode Day commemorates the first UPC barcode that was scanned on June 26, 1974 at a supermarket in Troy, OH. But the first barcode was invented in 1948 by two Drexel University students named Norman J Woodland and Bernard Silver. Woodland began working on ideas for a barcode after overhearing a conversation with a supermarket manager asking a Drexel dean for help devising a system to simplify grocery checkout and inventory.

The original barcode design was based on Morse code and devised of thick and thin lines. It is said that part of the inspiration came when Woodland drug his fingers through sand on the beach, creating lines of varying thicknesses. In the original design, these lines were placed in a circle, so that they could be scanned from any direction.

Although the idea was patented in 1952, it was before it’s time. Limitations in light sources available for scanners, as well as the size of computers required to interpret the barcode made the initial barcode impractical for use in supermarkets. It wasn’t until years later with the invention of the laser and advancements in microcomputing that barcodes for supermarket scanning became a reality. Today, barcodes are used throughout the world, in hundreds of industries.

Contact DLS for your customer’s barcode labels.

Most of us have had the “pleasure” of licking a gummed envelope or postage stamp. But did you know that prior to the invention of the self-adhesive label in the 1930’s, commercial labels largely utilized this type of water-activated adhesive?

Wide-spread use of pre-gummed labels began in the late 1800’s. The gum paste on these labels was usually an animal-based adhesive that needed moisture to activate the stickiness. This was an improvement to users needing to apply glue to labels, but it was still messy and the adhesive didn’t stand up well to environmental conditions like heat or moisture.

Pressure sensitive self-adhesive labels meant a large decline in the use of water-activated gummed labels, but didn’t entirely replace them. There are industries that still utilize water-activated tape or labels. But the ease of application, flexibility and durability of pressure sensitive labels makes them the best choice for most label applications. Of course many of us still wet our envelopes and postage stamps, but self-adhesive options exist here too.

DLS offers a variety of pressure sensitive labels and adhesives appropriate for a wide range of uses and markets. Contact us to learn more.

Wine labels have a long history. In fact, wine jars labeled (engraved) with vintage, region and winemaker were found in King Tut's tomb.

The oldest hand-written wine label was created by French monk Pierre Perignon (yes, like the champagne) in the 17th century. It was made of parchment and tied to the bottle with string.

Lithography brought printing in mass quantities and something close to modern wine labels. As the printing process has advanced, so too have wine labels. Wine makers in the 19th century incorporated color and design to differentiate their product, including coats of arms, portraits, landscapes or medals.

In the 1950’s, legislation required information like where wine was bottled, who bottled it, the type of grape, vintage, alcohol content and volume.

Today’s wine labels are still required to provide this information. But the designs are incredibly diverse – ranging from traditional to downright playful.

Whether you need a relatively simple wine label, or a complicated die-cut with special augmentations and finishing, contact DLS.

Whether we pay attention to them or not, we’re all familiar with nutrition labels. But did you know that the requirement to provide nutrition information in this format is a relatively recent one? While there were some labels that contained nutrition information on food in the early 1900’s, the need for such labels wasn’t fully realized until the 1970s. This was largely due to the fact that most food was sold in its natural form, or in bulk.

With the proliferation of packaged foods, a standard way to inform consumers of what they were eating became more important. In 1972 the FDA proposed regulations that specified a format to provide nutrition information on packaged food labels. But the use of these labels was voluntary except for companies who added nutrients to their products or made specific nutrition claims. It wasn’t until the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990 that nutrition labels were made mandatory. Since then, there have been only minor changes to the label format or what’s included (such as the addition of trans fat).

Contact DLS to help your customers with FDA compliant labels.

Imagine that the directions for your prescription were actually written by hand… or perhaps that there were no instructions at all. Printed drug labels came into wide-spread use in the 1800s.

Pharmacists would buy books containing sheets of printed labels, or go to the same newspapers in which they advertised to buy sheets of labels. They would then need to cut the individual labels out and glue them to bottles of medicine. Initially, these labels would only have the name of the medicine, and possibly the pharmacy. But there was often no information on dosage or how to take the medicine.

In the 1860s, it became common for these preprinted labels to have space for additional information. In some cases, labels were “fill in the blank”, with wording such as “Take __ spoonfuls as directed by Dr. __”. Or the labels would have pharmacist information and branding, with space for more detailed information and instructions to be written by hand.

Today, it is common for labels used by many industries to be preprinted with branding or standard information, with space left for printing additional information – either by hand or with a printer. Contact DLS for help with your customer’s preprinted labels.

Now that’s an old vintage… Among the oldest recorded “labels” are clay seals found on wine jars buried in the catacombs of Egyptian King Tutankhamen’s tomb. Intended to help ensure a pleasant afterlife, the wine jars were labeled with product, year, source and even the name of the vine grower.

One of the samples found in the tomb of King Tutankhamun, which was discovered by Howard Carter in Western Thebes, Egypt, bore the following inscription: "Year 5. Wine of the House-of-Tut-ankh-Amun, Ruler-of-the-Southern-On, 1.ph.[ in] the Western River. By the chief vintner Khaa."

Unlike today’s wine labels, they did not include the color or type of wines the vessels contained. But by analyzing the wine vessels, researchers have been able to determine that King Tut’s wine of choice was most likely a red variety.

Today’s wine labels contain much of the same type of information, as well as additional regulatory info. And of course beyond simply identifying the wine within, our modern labels are heavily focused on design and marketing potential.

You could say that adhesives are the glue that holds the label industry together. Bad puns aside, adhesives are integral to the performance and use of labels. And it turns out that the history of adhesives is a very long one. The earliest human use of adhesive-like substances is estimated to be approximately 200,000 years ago, when Neanderthals produced tar from birch bark to bind stone tools to wooden handles. Archaeologists have also found pottery from around 4,000 B.C. that is bonded with a resin made from tree sap.

Over the next few thousand years, adhesive development was slow and revolved mostly around animal products combined with substances such as eggs, dairy and grains. Development sped up with the Industrial Revolution. In 1750 the first patent for glue was issued in England, for an adhesive made of fish bones. After this, several other patents were issues for adhesives made of products like natural rubber, fish, casein and bones and hooves from animals including horses. The 1920s brought the development of a plastic polymer adhesive, and the growth of synthetic adhesives was accelerated during World War II.

Today, industries including label manufacturing use a wide variety of natural and synthetic adhesives. Specialty adhesives are formulated for specific uses based on considerations like strength, flexibility, longevity and chemical or moisture resistance.

Contact DLS to get the right adhesive for your customer’s labels.

The Fair Packaging and Labeling Act (FPLA) was enacted in 1967. Among other things, the law requires that labels for “consumer commodities” include the net quantity of the product by weight, volume or count (in both metric and U.S. Customary units). In other words, the label has to say how much product is in the package. Sounds simple enough. If a bottle of juice contains 16 oz. of juice, the bottle needs to say so. But the story of how we all came to agree on just how much juice is in 16 oz. is far more complicated, with a long history.

The need for standardized, agreed upon measuring units is an old one, with early standards recorded as far back as 2900 BC.

In the U.S. the need for standardized measurement is actually included in the Constitution, which states that Congress would have the power to “fix the standards of weights and measures”. Despite this decree, it took quite a while for the U.S. to determine just what those standards were. It wasn’t until 1836 that Congress decreed what these standards would be. This was only after the Treasury Department took it upon themself to create an official set of standardized weights and measuring sticks based largely on English measurement. Official copies of these standard weights and measuring sticks were then provided to each of the states. Then in 1866 Congress enacted another law stating that it was lawful to also use the metric system, making it easier to conduct business internationally.

The story of how these units of measurement are actually determined and how the accuracy of these measurements is maintained is much longer. In fact, it is so complex that there are people who have dedicated their careers to the study and implementation of accurate measurements – metrologists.

No matter how complex the history of measurements is, you can trust DLS to print your customer’s labels.

To the naked eye, microtext may appear as a solid line or simply part of a design. But magnify it and you will find teeny tiny text. Microtext is used as a hard to reproduce security/anti-counterfeit feature.

A high-profile use of microtext is US currency. Can you find the microtext in these bills?

• $5 - “FIVE DOLLARS” in the squiggles
• $10 - “THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TEN DOLLARS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” above Hamilton’s name
• $20 - “THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 20 USA 20 USA” on Jackson's left
• $50 and $100 - “THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” in Grant and Franklin’s collars

In the world of labels, microtext is used to combat counterfeit or pirated products. Brands incorporate microtext as part of their label design so that savvy consumers can differentiate between their product and imposters. But not all printers are equal when it comes to microtext. Differences in ink and print technology can drastically effect how small text can be and still be readable when magnified. At DLS, we can print clear text as small as 0.5 pt using our HP Indigo.

If your customers could benefit from microtext for their brand labels, contact us and we can help you find the best solution.

Chances are you’ve seen a UL (Underwriters Laboratory) label. These ubiquitous labels can be found on a wide variety of consumer or industrial equipment, and provide assurance that UL has certified the product is designed to be safe. But did you know that in order for a company to apply one of these labels to their product, it’s not just the product that needs to be approved by UL, but also the label itself?

UL labels must meet strict standards for materials, performance, information and layout. The design/layout of a UL label must be reviewed to verify all information is in an acceptable format, and only suppliers approved by UL, and found in the UL database are authorized to print labels with the UL Mark.

Participants in the UL Authorized Label Supplier Program have undergone their own testing process with UL to ensure the materials and printing process of their labels will stand up to the end-use conditions. These approved suppliers also undergo ongoing reviews and inspections to ensure that they continue to adhere to UL label standards.

As a participant in the UL Authorized Label Supplier Program, DLS can help with your customer’s UL labels. Contact us for more information.

Bottled beverages and football just go together. In fact, during the two weeks leading up to the big game, Americans are expected to spend upwards of $1.3 billion on beer and cider. When we reach for those bottles, most of us probably don’t think too much about the label – unless something goes wrong. And there is a lot that can go wrong with a bottle label.

Labels like those on beer bottles need to stand up to issues during production including moisture and temperature changes, overspill, and abrasion as the bottles speed through the bottling process. Once the bottle makes its way to consumers that label needs to withstand changes in temperature, light and even a lengthy soak in a cooler filled with melting ice.

Without the right label, these conditions can lead to smudges, scratches, flaking, fading or a label that completely falls off. The wrong label can also lead to significant issues in the bottling process – which means lost time and money. In order to ensure that bottle labels will hold up throughout production and use, it’s important to choose the right substrate, adhesive, ink and printing process.

Contact the label experts at DLS for help making sure your customer’s bottle labels perform.

If you've shopped for a vehicle, you've probably seen a Monroney sticker. This large label that is posted on the side window of all new cars sold in the US has been legally required since the Automobile Disclosure Act of 1958 (sponsored by Oklahoma senator Almer Stillwell Monroney).

Every manufacturer’s sticker looks a bit different, but they all carry the same basic information – the features, options, and charges as well as information on fuel efficiency, air pollution and vehicle origin. Before the Monroney sticker, customers had to trust the salesperson for information about what a car included, and how much it cost.

One of the more interesting parts of Monroney stickers is how they’re constructed. Most labels consist of a printed facestock, backed by adhesive and a liner that is removed on application. With a Monroney sticker, the label is applied “backwards”. The information is printed on the liner and adhesive is applied to only the edges of the facestock - which sticks to the window so the printed liner faces the outside of the vehicle. This allows for easy removal without destroying the information printed on the label.

Contact DLS for more information or a quote for your customer’s Monroney stickers.

The Universal Product Code or UPC is one of the most commonly used barcodes for retail sales. There are a number of UPC codes in use, but the barcode you will find on most products you buy will be UPC-A. A UPC-A is made up of 95 columns that are read by a barcode reader as either a 1 or 0. This 95-digit number made up of 1s and 0s is then translated into the 12 digit UPC code. The modules include left and right sections of the UPC code, as well as start, middle and end guard patterns.

These sections serve several important functions. The guard patterns identify the beginning and end of the UPC, as well as separating the left and right sections. The number in the left section indicates the manufacturer or seller, while the right section identifies the product. Additionally, a barcode reader can determine if the barcode is upside down based on the numbers of 1s read in the left and right sections. All codes on the left side have an odd number of 1s, and the codes on the right side have an even number of 1s. If the computer identifies that the barcode is being read upside down, it can immediately flip it so it’s scanned correctly.

Contact DLS to see how we can help you with UPC and other barcodes for your customers.

If you were at the beach and came upon a drum of chemicals washed up onto shore, you’d probably want an easy way to determine if the contents of this drum were hazardous. Companies transporting dangerous goods overseas are subject to International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) regulations, that include labeling requirements for hazardous chemicals.

These requirements include the use of durable labels as defined by British Standard 5609 (BS5609). BS5609 compliant labels must be able to remain intact and legible after a three-month submersion in salt water. Labels undergo stringent testing to ensure they are BS5609 compliant. This testing involves simulating marine conditions such as: prolonged salt water submersion, simulated salt spray, changes in temperature, and UV exposure.

Compliant labels are subjected to two categories of testing. BS5609 Section 2 tests the durability of the label base materials (such as facestock, adhesive and any additional topcoats), while BS5609 Section 3 tests the durability of the label once it is printed to test the durability of the print process.

Contact DLS for help with your customer’s BS5609 compliant labels.

Do you know where the grapes for your wine are grown? Federal law states that if a wine is labeled as a product of a state, 75% of the grapes in the wine must originate in that state, but the remaining 25% can come from elsewhere. Some states have more strict requirements. For example, in order for a wine to be labeled a product of California, 100% of the grapes must be grown in California.

Texas recently passed a law clarifying requirements for Texas wine labels. The state will continue to follow federal rules that 25% of the grapes in a “Texas” wine can be from outside the state. But if a Texas wine gets more specific to its product origin, the requirements get more stringent.

For a wine labeled as a product of a specific Texas county, 75% of the grapes must come from that county. A wine labeled as a product of a specific American Viticultural Area (AVA) must use 85% of its grapes from within that AVA. And if a wine is designated as a product of a specific vineyard, 95% of the grapes must come from that vineyard. In all of these cases, the remaining grapes must come from elsewhere within Texas.

Wherever your customer’s wine comes from, contact DLS for help with their wine labels.

What is the difference between a 1D and 2D barcode?

1D barcodes are the most well-recognized barcode types (like those in the supermarket). These linear barcodes represent data by varying the widths and spacing of parallel lines. The amount of data contained in a 1D barcode is relatively limited, but often these barcodes are attached to a secondary database that provides additional information.

2D barcodes are graphical images that store information on both the horizontal and vertical planes (QR codes, for example). 2D barcodes can be smaller than 1D barcodes, and store a larger amount of data—without the need for a secondary database. Other advantages of 2D barcodes include the ability to very quickly scan items, often from farther away.

Contact DLS for help with all of your barcode labels.

Did you know that labels can be used to help fight international counterfeiters? The proliferation of counterfeit cosmetics is a significant international problem—threatening the bottom line of legitimate makeup companies and creating substantial health hazards for consumers.

The monetary loss to legitimate makeup companies is considerable. It’s estimated that the cosmetics and personal care industry lost $5.5 billion in sales to counterfeit products in 2020. Counterfeit cosmetics also hurt the bottom line of legitimate companies by damaging their brand and reputation.

Counterfeiters will often replace more expensive ingredients with cheaper substitutes. The phony products are also often produced in unsanitary conditions, and the products do not meet standard safety regulations. Seized shipments of counterfeit makeup have been found to contain dangerous chemicals and toxic metals, as well as bacterial contaminants and feces. Not only do these products not work as they are supposed to, they often cause chemical burns and skin rashes. When consumers use these inferior or dangerous counterfeits, they often assume the product is bad, not that it isn’t legitimate. This leads to considerable damage to the company’s brand.

Augmented labels provide a potential weapon to help thwart counterfeiters. These specialty prime labels incorporate unique print effects—making it more difficult for counterfeiters to duplicate. Features such as microtext, holographs, specialty inks or label stocks make it easier for consumers to recognize a fake product.

Contact DLS to help design unique and secure augmented labels for your customers.

Approximately 46 million turkeys are consumed in the US on Thanksgiving day. About 20% of these are fresh turkeys. So what makes a turkey “fresh”? According to the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), “fresh” means whole poultry and cuts that have never been below 26°F (the temperature at which poultry freezes). FSIS is the US government agency responsible for ensuring the truthfulness and accuracy in labeling of meat and poultry products. So a turkey that has ever been below 26°F cannot legally be labeled as fresh.

Have a great Thanksgiving. And if you’re one of the 80% of us who choose a frozen turkey, don’t forget to take it out early to thaw. Those frozen turkeys can take from 3-6 days to thaw depending on size.

Christmas trees… carolers… sugar cookies… and shipping labels. The holidays are by far the busiest time of the year for shipping goods. For 2021, the USPS estimates that they will deliver between 850 million and 950 million packages between Thanksgiving and Christmas (and that’s not including letters and cards or the packages delivered by other services like UPS or FedEx). To help all these packages find their way to the correct destination requires A LOT of shipping labels. At their most basic, a shipping label needs to only contain the name and address of the recipient and sender. But most shipping labels go much farther than this including weight, tracking and routing barcodes, postage information, service type, order information and more. All this information makes it easier for humans and machines to read the label and provide up-to-date information on where a package is and when it will arrive.

Barcodes are vital to the efficient flow of goods throughout the supply chain. As an item moves from the producer to consumer, with every stop in between, it is important that barcodes can be read and understood throughout the supply chain. This is where standards and GS1 comes into play.

GS1 is a not-for-profit global standards organization. The organization was originally created in 1973 as the Uniform Product Code Council. This early barcode standards group initially agreed on the standardized UPC barcode, used almost universally today in retail operations. Nearly 50 years later, the group has become a global organization. Having expanded far beyond the retail-based UPC barcode, GS1 US has 300,000-plus members in 25 industries, and GS1 standards are the most widely-used supply chain standards in the world. Their standards help create a universal data language, with barcodes that can be read and interpreted by any company, anywhere.

Contact DLS for help with your customer’s standardized barcode labels.

UPC or Universal Product Code barcodes are a digitally readable series of bars that is translated into 12 digits allowing products to be digitally tracked and scanned.

But how do those bars translate into 12 digits? The UPC barcode is actually made up of 95 evenly spaced columns. Once scanned, the computer reads those columns as a 95-character number made up of 1s and zeros. A light column is read as 0 and dark columns are 1.

This 95-character number is then translated into 12 digits. The first six digits identify the manufacturer, the next five represent the product and the final digit is a check digit. These 12 numbers are also printed at the bottom of the barcode in a human readable form.

Barcodes provide a lot of information about a product, but they do not provide the price of an item (stores get this information by pairing the barcode with their internal database). And despite what numerous viral social media posts may say, barcodes do not provide information on the product’s country of origin.

Contact DLS for help with your customers pre-printed barcodes or supplies to print them on demand.

Chemicals are big business. In fact, 2019 global chemical shipments were worth nearly $4 trillion. With all these chemicals traveling around the world, it makes sense for there to be a standard way to label and classify hazardous materials.

GHS, or the Globally Harmonized System of the Classification and Labeling of Chemicals was developed by the UN beginning in 1992, so workers throughout the world can easily identify dangerous substances. Instead of each country having its own system for labeling hazardous materials, the symbols are standardized and easily recognizable. Additionally, GHS labels need to meet certain requirements for quality and durability.

GHS is not a global law, but recommendations that countries can incorporate into their own chemical management system and regulations. Countries can pick and choose which pieces of GHS they wish to incorporate into their own regulations to enforce within their jurisdiction. No country is obligated to adopt all or any of the GHS system. But more than 65 countries have. The U.S. officially adopted GHS in 2012, when OSHA adapted their standards to incorporate GHS.

Contact DLS for more information on or help with your customer’s GHS labels.

How would you feel about a delivery driver helping themselves to a few of your fries? What if all it took was a label to keep your food safe? A survey conducted by US Foods in late 2019 found that 28% of food delivery drivers admitted to occasionally sampling customers’ food. The same survey found that 85% of customers wanted restaurants to use tamper-evident packaging to help discourage the practice. Enter tamper-evident labels.

This relatively simple solution uses a label to seal bags, boxes or other food containers and helps customers feel confident that their food hasn’t been pilfered. These little labels have become especially prevalent and important with the increased use of food delivery services, as well as the increased focus on preventing the spread of germs and viruses that has come with Covid-19. In addition to helping customers feel confident in the safety of a restaurant’s food, these labels also provide additional opportunities for companies to market to their customers with branded graphics or promotional labels.

Contact DLS for tamper-evident labels for your customers.

QR codes, or quick respond codes were invented in 1994 by Masahiro Hara from the Japanese company Denso Wave. They were designed to allow for high-speed scanning and were originally used to track vehicles during manufacturing.

QR codes are an example of a 2d or matrix code. Unlike traditional barcodes that only present information linearly, QR codes have the ability to hold information both horizontally and vertically. This allows the code to contain significantly more information. Common uses include displaying text, opening a webpage, adding a vCard, opening a Uniform Resource Identifier or connecting to a wireless network.

There are a large number of tools to create QR codes, as well as to read them. While in the past, smart phones would require a special app to read QR codes, most modern smart phones will now read a QR code simply by viewing it through the phone’s camera.

QR codes are often used in marketing, making it easy to direct customers to additional information. Other markets that utilize the versatile codes include manufacturing, consumer products and electronics, healthcare, retail and warehouse and distribution.

Contact DLS to learn how you can help your customers add QR codes to their labels.

What if your labels could just… disappear? Dissolvable labels can do just that. Dissolvable labels are made up of water-soluble stock and adhesive, that will dissolve within 30 seconds in any temperature water. They leave behind no residue and won’t clog drains. Labels are easily removed without the need for scraping either the label or adhesive—saving considerable time. Restaurant and food service businesses regularly use dissolvable labels for food rotation or storage labels—since they can simply wash off in the dishwasher.

They are also useful in healthcare or laboratory settings. In some cases, dissolvable labels can also be an eco-friendly option for companies who want to make it easier to reuse packaging. When used in this way, it is necessary to keep in mind how long the label needs to last and where and how the product would be stored to be sure that the label doesn’t dissolve before it's done its job.

Contact DLS for help with dissolvable labels for your customers.

Organic food is worth big money. According to the Organic Trade Association, U.S. organic food sales hit $50.1 billion in 2020. This means that the use of "organic" on product labels can be a valuable marketing tool. But there are actually strict federal requirements for which products can be labeled organic.

USDA Organic certification confirms that the farm or handling facility (whether within the United States or internationally) complies with USDA organic regulations related to soil quality, animal welfare, pest and weed control, and use of additives. In order to label their products organic, producers must be certified by a certification agent approved by the USDA.

There are three levels of organic labeling. Products made entirely with certified organic ingredients, methods, and processing aids can be labeled "100% organic". Products with at least 95% organic ingredients may be labeled "organic". Products containing a minimum of 70% organic ingredients, can be labeled "made with organic ingredients," but may not display the USDA Organic seal.

Contact DLS for help with your customer’s food labels (both organic and conventional).

Imagine pointing your phone at a label and watching the image on that label come to life. Maybe the image starts moving and speaking. Maybe the image completely explodes off the label into an interactive app. Or maybe the image takes you to additional content and information about the product. Augmented reality makes this possible. Augmented reality labels utilize a specially designed smartphone app that recognizes scannable images in the label. When the app user scans the label with their smart phone, the app recognizes a special visual cue that will then trigger the augmented reality content.


One of the most famous examples of this interactive label option is 19 Crimes wine. When users viewed the wine labels, which featured portraits of “criminals”, the app would bring the portraits to life, with augmented reality video of the criminals explaining their story. This early use of Augmented Reality labels was extremely successful from a marketing perspective—helping the winemaker increase their sales by 90%.


The technology for augmented reality labels isn’t yet standardized, so there isn’t a universal app that will read all augmented reality labels. As the technology catches on, there are several customizable AR apps that can be leveraged for your customer’s augmented reality labels, or mobile app developers can develop completely custom apps. It is also extremely important when developing an augmented reality label to work closely with your customer’s label designer and the label printing company to be sure that the image cues work correctly.


Consider augmented reality labels for your customers who are looking for a creative way to interact with their customers.

When it comes to allergies, accurate labeling is serious business. Each year in the U.S. it’s estimated that severe food reactions cause 30,000 emergency room visits, 2,000 hospitalizations and 150 deaths. To help consumers easily identify products containing allergens, the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act was passed in 2004 and took effect in 2006. This law required that manufacturers call out and list any of eight major allergens (milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, and soybeans).

Manufacturers can satisfy the labeling requirements either by calling out the allergen in the ingredients list with the allergen in parenthesis, such as casein(milk) or by using the word “contains” followed by the allergen, such as contains milk.

While there are considerably more ingredients that could potentially cause allergic reactions, it was estimated that these 8 allergens were responsible for 90% of severe reactions, and for the last 17 years, there were not changes to the list of major allergens. However, the recently passed Food Allergy Safety, Treatment, Education, and Research Act (FASTER) adds sesame to the list of major allergens beginning Jan. 1, 2023. This law also contains provisions that make it easier for additional allergens to be identified and added to the list. So it is important that manufacturers stay abreast of potential changes to the regulations. What are other possible additions? As a major allergen in the regulations for both Canada and the EU, mustard may be one of the next candidates.

Contact DLS to help your customers with compliant allergy labeling.

Since 2016, OSHA’s HCS has aligned with GHS (Globally Harmonized System of the Classification and Labeling of Chemicals). Prior to this, companies had to provide information and labeling related to dangerous chemicals, but the information and format could vary from company to company. It also wasn’t uncommon for a product to be relabeled several times in order to comply with conflicting US and international regulations. By adopting the GHS, OSHA aimed to provide a common and coherent approach to classifying chemicals and communicating hazard information on labels and safety data sheets. It was also done to help reduce trade barriers and result in productivity improvements for American businesses.

GHS is regularly revised. Since its introduction in 1992, the GHS has gone through 8 revisions. The HCS isn’t revised nearly as often. Initially, the HCS was aligned with the 3rd revision of GHS. In early 2021, OSHA announced plans to revise the HCS to line up with the 7th revision of GHS. This process of revising the HCS is ongoing, and is anticipated to be complete soon.

Contact DLS for help with your customer’s GHS or HCS labels.

In the battle for consumer attention, product marketers rely heavily on prime labels to distinguish their brand. Prime labels are those featured prominently on the front of a product and are a key component of the product’s packaging and branding. Usually, prime labels are full-color labels, printed on quality label stock, with special attention paid to the graphic design. They should help reinforce brand, appeal to customers, and ultimately… entice customers to buy.

 

These labels play a huge role in determining if consumers buy a product. Just how big? Here are some stats:

• Studies have shown that consumers generally make a decision on a product in just 7 seconds… not much time to make a good first impression.
• 60% of shoppers are unlikely to buy a product when the label doesn’t provide enough information. 

And the big one… 33% of shoppers are inclined to reject a product if they don’t like the label.
 

Contact DLS to help you provide prime labels for your customers. 

Starting January 1 of 2022, you may have seen new labels on some of your food. Food manufacturers, importers and retailers in the U.S. are now required to comply with a new national labeling standard for genetically modified, or bioengineered food. These foods are defined as “those that contain detectable genetic material that has been modified through certain lab techniques and cannot be created through conventional breeding or found in nature.”

The new requirements are an attempt to provide national standards for labeling bioengineered food, rather than forcing consumers to rely on a patchwork of state standards. These new standards also do away with terms like Genetically Modified, or GMO. The labeling requirements, which were approved by the USDA in 2020, gave companies until January 2022 to comply.

Companies with products that qualify as bioengineered can comply with the new standard in several ways. They can use one of two approved logos, include text on food packages that says "bioengineered food" or "contains a bioengineered food ingredient," or they can include a QR code for consumers to scan or a phone number for them to text that will provide more information about that food item.

Neither food producers or consumer groups are particularly happy with the guidelines. Consumer groups say that they provide too many loopholes, put too much responsibility on consumers, and can be confusing. Food producers are upset at the timing of the new rule given the strain companies are already under right now due to supply chain issues. Regardless of these complaints, the rules are now in effect.

Contact DLS for help providing your customers with these or other food labels.

Did you know that labels play a role in supplying our military and helping to keep our soldiers safe? The U.S. Department of Defense maintains an enormous global supply chain. And as materials move throughout this supply chain, it is imperative that goods move efficiently. To help expedite the handling of military supplies during shipment and storage, the U.S. government maintains specific regulations regarding how package markings must look when contractors are shipping to civilian and military agencies.

For example, MIL-STD-129 provides the minimum requirements for uniform military marking for shipment and storage. This standard dictates the numbers, letters, barcodes, labels, tags, symbols and colors that are used.

These strict standards require suppliers to correctly mark shipments of supplies on all levels of packaging from the unit to the pallet. There are slight variations to label requirements depending on which level the label is applied. For example, exterior packaging requires certain additional labels, not required on a unit level.

In addition to stating the printed label requirements, this standard also spells out how RFID tags and labels are to be used in military shipments.

In July 2020, NASA launched the Perseverance robotic rover towards Mars aboard an Atlas V Rocket. Eagle-eyed observers to the launch may have noticed a lineup of labels on the top of the rocket that included the logos for NASA, the United Launch Alliance and the US Space Force.

These special labels are actually applied to the rocket in strips, so that they will peel off as the rocket ascends through the atmosphere. This helps ensure that the labels won’t interfere with the aerodynamics of the vehicle.

While DLS isn’t putting our labels in space (yet), we can help you find the right labels for all of your customer’s special projects. Contact us anytime to discuss any unique label needs.

Not just a mainstay in Halloween decorations, the skull and crossbones has a long history of symbolizing danger.

It is commonly thought that the skull and crossbones originated with the Knights Templar in the 13th Century. The symbol is found on the graves of the Knights Templar, as well as countless medieval graves, buildings and monuments - denoting death and danger.

Around the 17th century, the skull and crossbones became a staple in pirate symbology, meant to strike fear in the pirates’ victims.

The use of the symbol in labeling got its start in the 1800’s. In 1829, New York passed a law requiring anything containing poison to be labeled, and the first skull and cross bones to denote poison appeared in 1850. Today the symbol is used globally to label poisonous substances.

Circling back to pirates, there was a call to replace the skull and crossbones on poison with the Mr. Yuk symbol. The reason? The widespread popularity of cartoonish pirates was thought to make the skull and crossbones actually ATTRACT the curiosity of young children. Ultimately, this movement failed, in part because the Mr. Yuk symbol is protected by copyright.

When it comes to expressing affection, chocolate reigns supreme – with an estimated 8 million pounds of chocolate and 36 million heart-shaped boxes sold around Valentine’s Day. But did you know that there are strict requirements to be met before a candy can be labeled chocolate?

While it might not be romantic, in order to be marketed as chocolate, these heart-shaped confections must meet strict FDA requirements. In addition to the usual label requirements for displaying nutritional information, the FDA has created standards for the identification of chocolate.

To be labeled as chocolate (and not "chocolate flavored"), a product must meet very specific conditions related to the content of cacao or cocoa. To be labeled specifically as milk chocolate, a product must contain at least 10% chocolate liquor, 3.39% milkfat and 12% milk solids. And while there is a spirited debate on whether white chocolate is, in fact, chocolate... to be labeled as white chocolate a product must contain at least 20% cocoa butter, 14% total milk solids and 3.5% milkfat.

When is a label not a label? When it’s a record label. What we usually think of as a modern “record label” doesn’t refer at all to any type of adhesive label, but to the companies who produce and sell music. The term does have its origins with actual labels though. It originates from the circular label in the center of a record that identified the record’s title and manufacturer. For early records, these labels played a particularly important role in identifying the disks, as most records were stored in plain paper or cardboard sleeves—with a cutout allowing the circular label to be seen. These labels were the main form of record identification until it became widespread for the records to be sold as albums with a printed outer cover or sleeve. Because early records could only really hold one or two songs, records were sold in booklets with multiple sleeves—similar to photo albums… Thus the origin of the term “record album”.

Contact DLS if you have a customer who needs a literal record label, or any other product identification labels.

Large international sporting events like the Olympics create a huge demand for event branded merchandise such as clothing, toys and books. To protect their brands, event organizations work with a list of approved vendors to create and sell official merchandise. However, the events also create significant trade in unauthorized or counterfeit merchandise. For example, in the weeks leading up to the London games, thousands of counterfeit goods claiming to be officially linked to the Olympics were seized at British ports and airports.

One way that official vendors of Olympics related merchandise use to distinguish authorized products from counterfeits is by using holographic labels. Virtually every Olympics event since the Atlanta Games in 1996 has utilized this type of label augmentation. Each official item is labeled with a hologram of the official logo as well as a unique item number. Fans are encouraged to purchase their event merchandise from authorized vendors and can track their purchases online to determine authenticity.

The Olympics aren’t the only company who can benefit from the use of augmented or holographic labels. Contact DLS to provide holographic labels for your customers.

Barcoded bumblebees… not just a tongue twister, but an actual technique used by researchers looking at bee behavior. In a study published in the journal Nature Communications, a group of researchers from several universities attached special tiny QR codes to bumblebees to examine how worker bees know when to switch jobs.

Using these tiny QR codes, called BEEtags, researchers can use special cameras to automatically monitor hundreds of bees all day and night. This allows them to better understand the bumblebees’ interactions with each other. Beyond simply learning how bees decide who has to do the less glamorous bee jobs, this research is valuable for testing how exposure to outside hazards, such as pesticides, affects a bumblebee colony. In the long term, this type of research can help as researchers look for explanations and solutions for the widespread loss of bee populations.

At DLS, we haven’t attached any of our labels to bees, but we do have the capability to produce very small, high-resolution barcodes. Contact us for your customer’s Auto ID labels.

Americans drink millions of bottles of beer during the Super Bowl. But most of us probably don’t know anything about the calories or other nutritional information of that beer. Most beer and alcohol are not required to be labeled with this information. The reason for this is that unlike other food and beverages, alcohol isn’t regulated by the FDA.

Due to legislative changes enacted after the end of prohibition, alcohol regulation and labeling falls under the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). The TTB does not require nutritional information or ingredients to be included on labels. Consumer groups have pressured the TTB for years to change the requirement, but the liquor industry has successfully fought these attempts. The result is that the TTB has made nutritional information optional.

The TTB does have other labeling requirements though. For example, bottles of distilled liquor and wine with greater than 14% alcohol must list their alcohol content. Certain ingredients like sulfites or yellow no. 5 must be called out (although not most other major allergens). If an alcoholic beverage does list calories on its label, it must also list the amounts of carbohydrates, protein, and fat, and if a beer is labeled as “Low Carb” it’s required to have this information. And just to add a little more confusion… Wines with less than 7 percent alcohol and beers that don't contain malted barley actually fall under FDA rules with standard nutritional and ingredient labeling requirements. 

Contact DLS for your customer’s alcoholic beverage labels (with or without nutritional information). In the meantime, enjoy the big game with your beverage of choice. And don’t forget to check out next week’s #LabelFactFriday.

Mirror mirror on the… dressing room wall? What if your dressing room mirror went beyond showing you whether that new sweater fit – to show you other color options, customer reviews, price or other suggestions? Smart mirrors can do just that.

In the last few years, several retailers have installed these smart mirrors to provide an enhanced shopping experience for customers. These systems utilize RFID tags and networked smart mirrors, which are more like large mirrored interactive computer screens. When a customer brings clothing items, tagged with RFID labels, into the dressing room, the smart mirror is able to pull up and display item information. Customers could also have the option of contacting a sales associate or pulling up information for other items.

In addition to providing a premium shopping experience for their customers, retailers can use data gained through the use of these smart mirrors to monitor what items make their way into the dressing rooms, and eventually into shoppers bags. This information can help retailers identify which items are performing well as well as strategize how to increase sales.

Contact DLS for your customer’s RFID labels – whether they are looking to implement smart mirrors or use RFID labels to optimize their inventory control and shipping. And don’t forget to check out next week’s #LabelFactFriday. 

It’s a long running debate. What is the difference between labels and stickers? Marion Webster defines a sticker as “a slip of paper with adhesive back that can be fastened to a surface”. A label is “a slip (as of paper or cloth) inscribed and affixed to something for identification or description”.

So… what is the difference? Some might say the difference is the material, with stickers usually being printed on a thicker material, with a shiny coating or fancy embellishments. But as the type of materials and print options for labels have increased, this difference has become blurred. Perhaps it’s how they’re disbursed… labels are most often produced on rolls or fanfold, while stickers are on individual sheets or even individual stickers. But this too blurs as labels can also be created in sheet or individual label form.

It really comes down to what they’re used for. Labels aren’t meant to stand alone as an end product. They are meant to "label" things – providing information like branding, warnings, identification, nutrition information or instructions. Stickers can simply be used for decoration or provided as an end product.

Tell us what you think. What’s the difference between stickers and labels?

Imagine the warehouse of the future, with swarms of robots ferrying products and packages from here to there… This futuristic warehouse is fast becoming a present reality. Robots are increasingly used to assist in picking products, moving pallets, taking inventory, restocking, transporting products from one point in a warehouse to another and a myriad other tasks.

As advanced as many of these robots are though, it turns out that just like their human counterparts, many of these robotic warehouse workers require labels to navigate or perform their tasks. For example, robots in Amazon distribution centers navigate using a camera on their belly to read QR codes on the floor. Robots that are used to pick product can read either traditional barcodes or QR code labels to make sure they’re grabbing the right item. And in some cases drones are used to scan item labels to help keep an accurate inventory count. In all these cases, to fully realize the benefits of the warehouse robots, it’s important that the labels are accurate, readable, and able to withstand the wear and tear of a busy warehouse environment.

Contact DLS to help your customers with labels for their robotic and human warehouse workers.

How does one of the oldest and largest libraries in the world keep track of its collection? RFID… Built in the mid-15th century, the Vatican Apostolic library houses over 80,000 manuscripts and 1.6 million printed volumes. This vast collection documents the history of western civilization and is a treasure trove for historians and religious scholars around the world.

To keep track of this priceless collection, the Vatican library uses RFID to track the location and use of its volumes - drastically simplifying the process. Prior to the institution of RFID tracking, the library would have to be closed for a month each year to complete a full inventory. Now, this process takes an afternoon.

It doesn’t take divine intervention to see that RFID technology and labels can also provide significant benefits for other businesses and institutions when keeping track of their inventories.

Contact DLS for help with RFID labels for your customers.

No, a zombie RFID tag isn’t one used to keep track of zombies (although one could argue that the ability to track legions of the undead might help us survive a theoretical zombie apocalypse). So what is a zombie RFID tag?

There doesn’t appear to be an overall consensus on what a zombie RFID tag is – although the phrase is used fairly often. The most common meaning is to refer to a tag that has been deactivated, or “killed.”

Say a customer buys a product tagged with a non-zombie ID tag. After purchase, the product’s RFID tag could theoretically still be read by both the store’s and other RFID readers. This can potentially cause privacy problems. But enter the concept of turning a tag into a zombie. A customer would purchase the item, and as either part of the purchase transaction or a separate action, a device would deactivate the tag. Now we have an RFID tag that is killed but still “walking around” - thus the zombie reference…

Ahh the late 90s… The heyday of individually produced CDroms containing everything from business information to carefully curated mix disks. And when a sharpie just wouldn’t cut it, millions of people turned to the Neato CDrom label system to print custom labels for their disks. The system included die-cut blank labels and a device to apply the labels. Early on, labeling disks was problematic. Simply applying a label by hand to a CD was difficult, especially since if the label wasn’t applied correctly it could negatively affect disc operation.

The founder of Neato originally found the solution to labeling CDs by using a Mr. Coffee brew basket to line up the labels for his company that sold disks of patent information. After labeling thousands of disks this way, he developed the Neato kit (apparently garnering its name from what people would say when they saw the kit in action). He started a new company to produce and sell millions of the labeling kits. Eventually, other companies developed competing printable labels and applicators for CDroms. And of course, CDroms themselves have fallen out of favor with the ease of online storage and data transfer.

At DLS, we use our coffee brew baskets to brew the coffee to keep our team awake and making your customer’s labels. But we do produce labels for uniquely shaped or hard to label products, in quantities from 100 to 100,000,000. Contact us today to learn more.

Every year since 2000, designers and consumers have eagerly awaited the annual Pantone Color of the Year announcement. How does this effect labels? Pantone’s color experts spend months examining color trends to determine their yearly choice, and once announced, the color choice can set the tone for product development and purchasing decisions in multiple industries, including fashion, home furnishings, and industrial design, as well as product packaging and graphic design. So if you sell or design prime labels or product packaging, there is a good chance some of your customers may want to incorporate the color of the year to stay on trend.

For 2022, Pantone chose Very Peri or PANTONE 17-3938. Pantone describes this color as a “dynamic periwinkle blue hue with a vivifying violet red undertone.” This is actually the first year that Pantone has created a new color, rather than choosing from their extensive color library.

If your customers are incorporating Very Peri, or any other specific Pantone colors into their labels, it’s important to work with your label printer to be sure the color is accurate

Are the PLU labels on fruit edible? A recent New York Times article answered a concerned reader who wanted to know if it was okay if they had accidentally eaten several produce labels. The short answer (based on a response from an FDA spokesperson) the label eater was probably going to be okay.

Produce labels aren’t technically “edible”. But because these special labels come into contact with food, the FDA mandates that they are made with certain non-toxic materials and adhesives to ensure that people consuming the fruit won’t be harmed. However, the safety of these labels is judged under the assumption that the label will be removed before eating the fruit. So the small amount of label material consumed by occasionally accidentally eating a label probably won’t harm someone. But people should try not to eat the labels. Plus… they probably don’t taste very good.

Contact DLS for your customer’s produce and other food labels

On New Year's Eve, over 360 million people will toast the New Year with a glass of bubbly. Some of the bottles will be labeled Champagne, and some of them will be labeled as Sparkling Wine. So why the difference in labeling?

It turns out there are strict requirements for a wine to be called Champagne. These requirements are stridently enforced by the trade group the Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin du Champagne (CIVC). In addition to quality requirements such as aging time, alcohol content and residual sugar, the CIVC requires that for a wine to be labeled as Champagne, it must be produced in the Champagne region of France.

The CIVC has been very successful at enforcing these requirements through trade agreements. For example, in the U.S., a 2006 trade agreement between the U.S. and the European Union requires that any American wine labels created after 2006 cannot call the wine Champagne. It is enforceable by law. Thus, even an American wine that is very similar to Champagne will most likely be labeled as Sparkling Wine.