Lack of food labels could result in serious business consequences

Food producers looking to distribute to supermarkets have plenty of reasons to mull over the contents of food labels carefully, but so do distributors of food to restaurants and other locations. Health codes may dictate that labeling be present on specific items, and ignoring this could have drastic results.

In a recent article from the Kansas City Star, several businesses in that state were described as being investigated and penalized for sub-par conditions within their store. Multiple examples are listed of establishments that possessed food products in unmarked containers, which usually accompanied other violations of health code. No matter whose fault this lack of labeling is, it reflects badly on both that particular business and the suppliers who provided the food items in question.

Some were multiple offenders. The restaurant Couzin’s Fish & Chicken of nearby Raytown, Missouri, was noted as leaving its food products in dangerous conditions by the Health and Safety Board of Jackson County.

“Multiple containers of ready-to-eat, potentially hazardous foods were not labeled with either preparation/open date or discard date,” the violation description notes. Another eating establishment, 491 Deli in Lee’s Summit, was cited for not having the dates displayed on its foods.

Making labels, period, can be a practice that signals good practices and compliance with the law to official government agencies, as can keeping those labels in a prominent place to reduce the chance of important information being overlooked. A color label printer can make these descriptors legible and vibrant, and make the difference that keeps businesses on the up-and-up.