Use-By vs Best-Before: What Do Food Date Labels Really Mean?
Understanding Food Date Labelling: Why It Matters We all check dates when buying food and drink—but did you know confusion over date labelling...
2 min read
Samuel Mcgarrigle
Aug 1, 2023 3:00:00 PM
In fast-paced food and beverage manufacturing environments, precise, high-speed coding is non-negotiable. Whether printing expiration dates, batch numbers, or barcodes, continuous inkjet (CIJ) printers offer the most efficient solution for marking a variety of packaging substrates in any orientation.
The ability to print anywhere on a product, across diverse packaging types, is essential to ensuring regulatory compliance, consumer safety, and brand reputation.
Accurate coding and marking are vital for:
Traceability – Ensuring products can be tracked through the supply chain in the event of a recall
Food Safety Accreditation – Meeting industry requirements for traceability, shelf life, and batch identification
Consumer Confidence – Providing visible, legible expiry and best-before dates to help consumers make informed decisions
Brand Integrity – Avoiding fines, returns, or delisting by major retailers due to illegible or missing codes
Whether you're a multinational brand or a small-scale producer, having a robust coding system in place is essential to operate in today’s regulated markets.
🥫 Drinks bottles and cans
🥛 Dairy cartons and bottles
🧊 Retail Ready Packaging (RRP)
🍖 Meat packaging and ready meals
🧀 Direct-to-food coding on eggs, cheese, and meats
With substrates ranging from flexible films to rigid plastics, your printer must adapt to multiple surfaces while maintaining clarity and speed.
Many businesses still apply labels by hand or rely on pre-printed packaging. While functional, these approaches can be time-consuming and error-prone.
Semi-automated coding with CIJ printers like the CM750 offers:
Significant reductions in labour and consumable costs
Faster changeovers and less downtime
Far lower risk of human error or incorrect labelling
ROI through minimised returns and rejected pallets
Incorrect barcodes or unreadable labels can cost £1,000–£10,000 per pallet if returned by retailers. Investing in coding technology helps mitigate these risks.
Continuous Inkjet (CIJ) printing is the industry standard for high-speed, high-volume food packaging environments.
Benefits include:
Non-contact printing that works at any angle or distance
Fast-drying, small droplet inks that provide high resolution, even on slick or uneven surfaces
Compatibility with a wide range of materials: paper, foil, plastic, glass, and more
Support for complex data formats including text, variable dates, barcodes, logos, and 2D codes
The CM750 CIJ printer from Cyklop Needham is built to meet these needs with precision and durability.
At Cyklop Needham, our CM750 CIJ printer offers:
Seamless integration into fast-paced production lines
User-friendly code setup for variable data and graphics
Reliable performance with minimal maintenance
A range of inks tailored for different packaging and environmental conditions
Whether you're printing directly onto bottles, flexible packaging, or outer cartons, the CM750 delivers crisp, compliant, and consistent results every time.
With over 60 years of experience, Cyklop Needham combines cutting-edge technology with deep industry knowledge. We don’t just provide CIJ printers—we supply:
Specialist food-safe and fast-drying inks
Expert installation and support
Ongoing consumables supply for long-term productivity
Custom solutions for unique production environments
📞 Call: +44 (0)1948 662629
📧 Email: enquiries@needham-ink.com
🌐 Visit: www.needham-ink.com
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