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It’s all about the data

21 April 2023

Dr Russell Sion explains how data is reshaping the food labelling landscape.

After biological contamination, label related defects are cited as the second most common cause behind product withdrawals and retailer returns, providing a good argument for ensuring that the labelling of food products is correct. 

Using automation technology to verify the label offers benefits when compared to manual inspection. Given today’s production speeds, it is impossible for one human to accurately read and process all the data for an entire shift, let alone check all elements of the label integrity – use by dates, country of origin, special promotions and cooking times, for example. Operative fatigue swiftly kicks in resulting in the possibility of mistakes being made.

When it comes to checking that labels are correct, the case for automation is strong. The label not only identifies the product but contains critical variable information such as ‘use by’ dates and pricing.  A well-designed label verification system should be able to verify 100% of the data on 100% of the products against validated source production data. As well as guaranteeing its accuracy, having this complete audit trail provides proof that all data or labels are verified.  

Addressing food waste
A study by WRAP entitled ‘Quantification of food surplus, waste and related materials in the UK grocery supply chain’ calculated that approximately 1.7 million tonnes of food were wasted in the UK prior to it reaching the consumer – almost half of which was preventable. 

A further study by Rentokil determined that mislabelling was the second most common cause of food recalls in the US, and the third most common cause in the UK. A well-designed label verification system would be able to detect not only that an incorrect label was being used but also any incorrect data necessitating a recall.

Food labelling errors generally fall into one of two categories – systematic errors or random errors. A systematic error is where the label and/or data is manifestly incorrect.  Random errors are generally a problem relating to the vagaries of the production process, such as a foreign body becoming attached to a printer.  

Labelling laws
Almost all aspects of food production are subject to strict legal and customer compliance regulations. Food labelling requires that many parameters must be checked – from the basics of, is it the correct packaging? to the more complex issue of weights, prices and country of origin. Typically, this information is recorded at intervals (often every 30-60 minutes) on paper check sheets with labels which are then affixed as proof.

Companies that have stuck with a manual approach to label verification are often tethered to a system that generates little, if any, benefit to themselves over and above meeting their compliance obligations. 

A fully automated label verification system can offer benefits. The data is 100% verified, 100% of the packs are verified and the label data is verified against a known correct standard. Both systematic errors and random errors are captured.

Additionally, these systems can provide proof of compliance. They can facilitate fast audit responses and track manual overrides against individual user and time/date and they allow the data to be fed back as part of a continuous improvement program.

In conclusion, automated label verification can deliver multiple benefits. It can increase efficiency, reduce staff count, reduce waste, and improve compliance. But, to achieve these significant benefits, attention to detail is needed when designing and implementing the system. Simply attaching a smart camera and entering data into a local terminal will not deliver all the benefits listed. 

In label verification there are no shortcuts to success. Yet, for those businesses prepared to make the investment there is the prospect of numerous benefits. Everything always circles back to one thing – It’s all about the data!

Dr Russell Sion is Director at JentonDimaco.


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