Printing Best-Before Dates and Lot Numbers: Best Practices and Importance

Best-before dates help consumers determine the freshness, make informed purchasing decisions, and safely use perishable products. Best-before dates indicate when a product is at its peak quality and flavor, not necessarily when it becomes unsafe to consume. Open dating is commonly found on perishable foods like meat, poultry, and dairy products, and retailers rely on these dates for inventory control and quality management.

Identification codes and barcodes can be printed on parts to indicate necessary information to aid in the manufacturing process. This helps improve production efficiency and quality control. Some examples that are used are printing pass/fail indicators on parts so that defective parts are not used in final products and printing readout values on parts for any adjustment required further down the line.

Secret numbers and codes are printed on products recognized only by the manufacturer. If counterfeit products should appear, the manufacturer can use these codes to distinguish which products are unlawful imitations. This printing application has been used as a means of protecting proprietary brands.

Accurate and reliable best before date printing and lot code marking are essential for quality control, traceability, and regulatory compliance across food, beverage, pharmaceutical, and consumer‑goods packaging. To ensure codes are readable and durable, several best practices should guide your coding and marking strategy.

Besides complying with stringent regulations regarding perishable goods, printing lot numbers, as well as printing best-before dates, is also crucial for tracking and traceability during the manufacturing process, storage, and distribution.

These codes are an important link in the chain of quality control, as they ensure that each product can be traced back to its production batches by simply referring to its lot and production codes. This practice is rather important for manufacturers, but also consumers, as it provides a clear trail from the initial production to the end user. As you might’ve guessed, these numbers are also mandated by regulations.

When it comes to best practices associated with the printing process alone, the same practices described above apply here as well. However, printing serial numbers are typically used for product traceability; they should be placed strategically to ensure easier scanning during storage and transport.

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KEYENCE can provide a comprehensive coding and print inspection solution to enhance tracking and traceability during the manufacturing process. Our systems can verify the presence or absence of these date codes, ensuring that no unacceptable products are released due to missing information. This eliminates the need for multiple vendors, as KEYENCE offers a single vendor integration between multiple products.

When linking MK-G Series to print Inspection equipment

• Connect the MK-G Series printer to a print inspection device using a LAN cable.
• Transfer settings, judgment character strings, and image capture triggers easily.
• Use print inspection devices to ensure products are not released if printed details are missing or incorrect, providing an extra layer of reliability.