Industry
Labels for food and beverage brands
Chilled, frozen and condensation-prone containers: freezer-grade adhesives, food-contact materials and space for mandatory label information.
The storage condition decides everything
A jam jar on a pantry shelf and the same jar in a fridge after opening are two different labelling problems. Food and beverage labels fail for physical reasons — moisture, cold, oil, heat — long before they fail for design reasons.
Start with the condition, not the artwork:
| Condition | Material | Adhesive |
|---|---|---|
| Ambient dry goods | Coated paper | Permanent acrylic |
| Chilled, condensation | PP | Chill-grade acrylic |
| Frozen (−18 °C) | PP or PET | Freezer-grade |
| Oily or greasy surface | PP | Oil-resistant |
| Hot-fill | PP | High-initial-tack |
A paper label on a chilled bottle will cockle within days, no matter how good the print is.
Mandatory information
Food labels carry more required text than any other category: product name, net quantity, ingredients, allergens, storage instructions, best-before date, batch code, and the producer or importer. The requirements differ between the US, UK and EU, and they change.
Two practical consequences: design the label around the text rather than shrinking the text to fit, and leave a defined area for date and batch codes so they are not squeezed into the design later.
Beverages: condensation and ice
Bottled drinks are the hardest case. A bottle goes from a warm shelf to an ice bucket to a table, and the label has to survive all three. PP with a chill-grade adhesive is the baseline; PET is better for immersion and for chemical resistance.
For clear bottles, a clear label with white ink gives the no-label look — but only if the design accounts for what sits behind it.
Small runs and multiple SKUs
Food brands often launch with several flavours at low volume. Digital printing keeps the setup low, so a 50-unit run per flavour is viable, and the artwork can change between SKUs without new plates.
What to send for a quote
The product, the storage condition, the container, the label size, the mandatory text length, quantity and destination. If the recipe or ingredient list is still changing, order a plain sample first to test adhesion before committing to print. Minimum 50 units.
Quick answers
What adhesive should frozen food labels use?
A freezer-grade adhesive that stays flexible at minus 18 degrees. Standard acrylic goes brittle, the label cracks or lifts at the corner, and condensation on the way out of the freezer finishes the job. The film should be PP or PET, not paper.
Are your labels food-safe?
The label sits outside the pack, so contact is usually indirect. Direct or indirect food contact still requires an adhesive and face stock intended for it, and the rules differ by market, so tell us the destination and we will state what documentation the material supplier provides.
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View →Get a quotation for your labels or stickers
Tell us the container, the quantity and the destination. Minimum 50 units.