NEED FOR LABELS
Tampering with products is a major issue for both brands and customers all around the world. Almost any product category, from high-end fashion to food — and, most alarmingly, pharmaceuticals — is vulnerable to tampering.
Not only may product tampering harm your brand, but it can also put the buyers who love, trust, and rely on it in peril.
As a business, you need strategies to secure your products and product labels from those who would benefit from or harm them.
Fortunately, the newest tamper-evident and tamper-proof labels will help you safeguard your products’ integrity, protect your customers, deter counterfeiters, and maintain your brand’s stellar reputation.
Tamper Evident, Tamper Proof, or Tamper Resistant; What’s the Difference?
Label technologies that are tamper-evident, tamper-proof, and tamper-resistant are valuable complements to the numerous tasks that labels provide for a brand. Understanding the distinctions is essential for making the best decision for your company.
Tamper-evident labels show that a product has been accessed or altered by someone other than the intended recipient. In the case of meals, supplements, or pharmaceuticals, this condition has safety consequences, as well as security implications with secure, sensitive, or confidential materials.
Whereas security packaging meets many of the standards for product security, tamper-evident labels add an extra layer of protection and aid in counterfeit prevention. To signal suspected tampering, these labels can include holographic designs or frangible materials (i.e., “self-destructing”). They’re frequently utilized in hygienic, cosmetic, and medical packaging.
The terms tamper-resistant and tamper-evident are frequently used interchangeably to describe the same label function, whereas there is a big difference between these two as distinguished by Food and Drug Administration on the FDA website.
In summary, a tamper-evident seal cannot be removed without leaving clear visible evidence, whereas tamper-resistant packaging may hinder tampering but may not always leave obvious traces of tampering. A tamper-resistant sticker, for example, may be placed over the top of a lid or cap, but if it is carefully removed and replaced, there may be no evidence of the removal.
Tamper-proof labels, also known as security labels or tamper-fast labels, are waterproof, cannot be peeled off in cold or damp conditions, and frequently include a holographic design in addition to destructible technology. They’re usually made of destructible vinyl or “void” polyester (which leaves the word “void” on the surface on which it’s affixed). They are perfect for physical products that require record maintenance, such as electronics, automotive spare parts, serial number labels, and pharmaceuticals, and are utilized in a wide range of sectors for security and branding applications.
Where Will You See Tamper-Evident or Tamper-Proof Labels?
1) Luxury and Beauty Products
The luxury goods industry is plagued by counterfeiting. Fraudsters are now more easily able to offload bogus brand-name products on consumers thanks to loosely controlled online marketplaces.
Cosmetics and beauty goods are among the most copied high-end goods. These are also among the most hazardous fakes.
By altering the label and product packaging, counterfeiters may often easily create replicas of high-end cosmetics. What’s to stop a shady seller from ripping the label off a high-end container of face cream and sticking it on a similarly shaped jar of who-knows-what?
2) Electronics
Counterfeit electronics (as well as the unlawful altering and resale of consumer electronics goods) are becoming more prevalent.
It’s simple to see why electronics are such a popular target for scammers. Consumers all across the world consider electronic devices to be among the most desirable status symbols.
Imagine investing thousands on a new smartphone only to find out it was a counterfeit with significant features missing. Devices with faulty components can cause injury to people such as overheating batteries.
3) Food and Beverage
As food delivery platforms have become giants in the food business (as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic), so has the usage of tamper-evident and tamper-proof labels. Food consumers can feel safe with tamper-evident labeling.
After all, between the restaurant and your front door, a lot may happen to order.
4) Pharmaceuticals
In India and around the world, counterfeit medication is a serious concern. According to a group of concerned doctors, bogus drugs containing dangerous substances such as printer ink, paint, and arsenic may kill as many as a quarter-million youngsters each year.
When used with pharmaceutical product packaging, tamper-evident and tamper-proof labels can literally save lives.
Types of Tamper-Evident Label Technology
Labels with tamper-evident characteristics range from simple to highly developed. An experienced label printer can assist you in selecting the most appropriate tamper-evident technology for your application and budget.
Here are a few common forms:
Self-Destructing Materials
Certain materials used in label fabrication are made to disintegrate rather than peel off smoothly, similar to those price tags that split apart when you try to remove them. This is achieved mainly by a carefully determined combination of adhesive and material strength qualities.
‘Void’ Features
We’ll assume you’ve never peeled off one of those warning signs that say “warranty invalid if removed” or something similar. If you had, though, you might have observed the word “void” or a colored mark on the surface where the label used to be.
When you attempt to peel off labels made this way, they leave behind an indication that indicates the label has been breached.
Die Cutting
Dies are the instruments used by label printers to cut your labels from raw label material. Dies are typically used to make the shape of labels. Slits, perforations, and other patterns can be added to the same instrument that cuts the shape of a label to make it difficult or impossible to remove without affecting the label’s appearance.
Tamper-evident slits are the cuts that cause the price tags to self-destruct.
How to get Tamper-Proof Labels and Tamper- Evident Labels
This is where an experienced, knowledgeable offset printing packaging company comes into play. Our company with Offset Printers in Delhi has been offering label printing services to leading companies for over 50 years now.
While there are plenty of tried-and-true methods of making labels tamper-evident or tamper-proof, sometimes the application will call for some outside-the-box thinking where our experience comes in handy for every requirement.