Security: It’s For More Than Consumer Safety

Packaging for Security

Packaging plays multiple roles: It’s a key element of product branding and identification; it protects whatever is inside from spoilage and damage; it protects the consumer; and now, probably more than ever, packaging is being used to fight counterfeiting and fraud.

To that end, packaging creators are constantly looking for new ways that will combine as many as these features as possible in a product that will still be attractive on the shelf. Some security features are visible to the consumer and can reassure them that their safety is important. Other security measures are only effective if hidden. In some products, like pharmaceuticals, a combination of overt and covert security is used to protect high-target products.

New Innovations:

Schreiner MediPharm won the TLMI Innovator Award for its Pharma-Comb Label. The label was designed so that labeled medicine bottles can’t be reused. The label has a tear strip that lets the user know if the container has been opened or used.

3S Simons Security Systems won at PrintStars 2013 for their OTF security label. The label incorporates Secure-ID technology. It is adhesive but doesn’t leave any stickiness behind when it’s been removed.

Holostik India won an Excellence in Holography award for Best Applied Security Product this year from the International Hologram Manufacturers Association for their Exodus product. This is a paper label with a partial hologram embedded, making it difficult to extract the hologram.

Thin Film Electronics just launched its Smart Sensor Label. This label was created to sensor perishable goods, like pharma-products and food. It tracks temperature with the goal of keeping food products safe for consumption, and also to cut down on food waste.

Chromatic Technologies has its new “reveal inks.” These inks can be printed on cartons, cans, and film, and when the food product gets too warm—such as a carton of milk that’s been left out on a kitchen counter—a reminder to put it back in the fridge appears. If the item is at a safe temperature, a message will appear indicating that as well.

Placon released their Crystal Seal Tamper-Evident plastic food containers that have a tamper-evident seal incorporated into the design so consumers can tell if the packaged has been opened, and brand owners don’t need to add extra safety seals or labels.