When you’re working with a food and beverage customer, no two projects are completely alike. Packaging, handling, and preservative processes sometimes create constraints that are difficult to overcome. Such was the case with a customer looking to apply an on-pack coupon to hot dogs and sausages that could withstand the rigors of the pasteurization process.
The Challenge – Temperature Extremes and Moisture Don’t Play Nicely with Labels
If you’ve never seen the production process for hotdogs and sausages (and how many people have?), you might not know there’s a pasteurization process designed to kill harmful bacteria and preserve the meat. Through this process, the packaging is exposed to an extremely hot water immersion followed by an extremely cold water immersion.
Our customer had tried for years, with multiple vendors, to find a way to apply an on-pack coupon to the packaging that wouldn’t be damaged through the pasteurization process. If labels were applied before the hot bath, the heat would make the labels fall off. If they tried to apply the label after the baths, the packaging would be too wet for the labels to adhere.
The Solution – Water and Temperature-Resistant Labels Applied Before Pasteurization
PrintFlex is no stranger to overcoming the seemingly impossible. It’s kind of our specialty. Through a variety of tests and iterations, we were able to develop an IRC coupon label with special inks, coatings, materials, and adhesives that would survive the pasteurization process undamaged. The on-pack label was not only heat resistant (up to 180°), but was also able to survive the chilled water bath (down to 35°) unscathed. Finally, the customer had access to a coupon label that could overcome high temperature, low temperature, and complete water submersion.
The Results – The All-Temperature On-Pack Coupon Solution
The customer was thrilled to finally be able to do an on-pack promotion through our research and testing for a product vertical they’d all but given up on. The IRC on-pack stayed completely intact and firmly attached throughout the entire supply chain process. The labels were also equipped to survive the entire distribution process from manufacture and production through transport, storage, and shelving. Our customer now had a solution they could count on, from a partner who would stop at nothing to overcome their challenges. PrintFlex Graphics exceeded their performance needs with a moisture- and temperature-resistant label that was reliable in size, quality, and placement.