Seafood Case Labeling Requirements
The old joke about being on a seafood diet – seeing food and eating it- left out the crucial step of checking all the seafood labeling! Whether fresh or frozen, the proper handling, labeling and storage of seafood is imperative to people’s safety. Industry standard information is required on seafood labels to speed the flow of inventory as well as ensuring that products are transported safely and arrive in optimal condition.
Much like we have covered in our comprehensive guide to Meat & Poultry labeling, it is for practical and preventative reasons that all seafood labels must be readable and scannable. This ensures that throughout the packaging and transport processes as well as the retail setting, that all information is clearly legible for all parties involved.
Fresh Seafood Case Label
The Seafood case label provides industry standard data to speed the inventory flow of seafood products though the supply chain. The information on the label is required to be both scannable and readable. Use of the Seafood case label replaces the requirement of general case markings. If you are not able to supply the GS1-128 barcode, the GTIN in ITF-14 format is acceptable as long as the batch/lot number is printed on the label in a human readable format.
For information about general case markings please consult our blog.
All seafood shipments are required to include the following information:
- Supplier name
- Product description
- Lot Number
- Sell by / Best by date
- Country of Origin
- Net Weight (fresh seafood only)
- GS1-128 barcode – Barcode is required to include item GTIN, batch/lot number. Other information embedded into the barcode is acceptable. ITF-14 barcode may be used in place of the GS1-128 barcode if the lot number is printed on the label.
Frozen Seafood Case Markings
Required markings for Frozen Seafood may be printed directly to the carton or applied via a
printed label. If applying a label to the carton, the background color of the label is required
to be white, with the exception of thaw and sell items. Thaw and sell items may have a white
or a yellow background. If using a yellow background for thaw and sell items, it is required to be printed with PMS 102 yellow on the top 2.5” of the label. Single label or wraparound labels are acceptable.
Please note that all Seafood labels/carton markings are required to use the GS1-128 barcode no later than 1/1/2023. ITF-14 format will no longer be accepted after this date.
AMI offers a variety of products and solutions to meet the demands and requirements of the seafood industry. Our team of experts is happy to assist you in finding the right products to label and code your seafood. We specialize in helpful solutions to industry standards!
- Print & Apply Labelers
- CAMI Case Pro – Print directly on cartons / boxes
- Reiner jetStamp 1025 – Handheld Thermal Inkjet Printer
- Zenjet Dynamic – Inline Thermal Inkjet Printer
- Zenjet Ultra – IP65 Thermal Inkjet Printer