What do the colored dots on food packaging mean? Colored dots on the food packaging mean “process control patches” or “printer’s color blocks.” These designed checklists provide crucial information to printers on how to use premium printing techniques in the presence of high-quality ink. The dots include yellow, cyan, magenta, and black colors, which are blended to create different color combinations.
It is a fact that technicians make the comparisons of dots to ensure consistent branding colors. The colored dots on the packaging of food products are intriguing and leave many pondering about their purposes. It is important for you to explore colored dots and their uses when you’re using food packaging for your products.
What Are The Colored Circles on Food Packages?
Colored circles on the food packaging refer to the registration marks or color blocks for the printers. These small circles appear in different colors close to the edges of the packaging.
The Core Purposes of Colored Dots
Printing Alignment
The fundamental purpose of these colored dots is to ensure quality and alignment during the packaging printing process. Food packaging is printed in different colors, and each color is applied to a different layer. The colored dots are perfect for describing the registration marks and allow printers to align the layers perfectly. The perfect alignment ensures the ideal printing of colors in the packaging design without being misaligned. The misalignment can affect the packaging appearance.
Color Consistency
Colored dots are also ideal solutions for maintaining color consistency. Each dot represents a color in the packaging design, whereas printers use these colors to ensure that the correct color tones are printed. Therefore, it is a perfect source of making sure that the final product appears as proposed and consistent use of color across various packaging batches.
Quality Control
These dots are also considered important for the quality control process. It is easy for manufacturers to inspect the placement of dots and colors to detect potential errors. For instance, if a dot is discolored or missing, it indicates an issue with one of the printing inks or plates. Therefore, it is essential to perform inspection and correction.
Production Efficiency
Colored dots are ideal to maintain the efficiency of production. The quick checking of dots and operations provide the smoothness of the printing process without inspecting the whole design. It saves resources and time to ensure efficient and faster production.
Common Misconceptions About Colored Dots
It is necessary to clear some usual misconceptions about the colored dots of food packaging.
- Health Indicators: It is a common misconception that colors indicate the healthiness of the food, such as red and green marks on food items signify the unhealthy and healthy, respectively. This is a wrong perception of the colors on the packaging. You must remember that dots do not provide any information regarding the healthiness or nutritional value of products.
- Quality or Ingredients Indicators: Another misconception is that a few people believe that the colors of dots represent the quality or specific ingredients of the products. It is also incorrect because dots are only used for quality control and printing.
How to Identify Colored Dots On Food Packaging?
Colored dots are commonly presented near the packaging edges, away from the branding elements and the main design. These dots are usually small, like a pencil eraser, and available in a cluster or row. The most common colors are cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (CMYK). However, it is essential to consider other colors that can be presented depending on your preferences and requirements for packaging design.
Examples of Colored Dots In the Food Industry
Snack Packaging
Colored dots are usually available close to the seal of the bag for the cookie packaging. These colors ensure elegant packaging design to engage the potential customers while ensuring consistency and correctness for the printing.
Cereal Packaging
Cereal packaging comes in different colors and designs. The colored dots on the cereal packaging ensure color accuracy and alignment. These dots ensure that branding elements and cereal images are high-quality and appealing to engage potential customers.
Beverage Labels
Beverage labels on cans and bottles include colored dots to ensure the efficient alignment of logos and text. It is important for nutritional information and brand recognition.
Distinctive Colored Dots And Their Meaning
What are the different colored circles on food packages? Black, blue, green, red, and yellow are different colored circles. Here, we take a closer look at the different colored dots used for food packaging.
Black Colored Circle
This color indicates the presence of chemical substances in the packaging. A black dot on the packaging will help people understand the danger of chemicals.
Blue Colored Dot
Blue colored dots showcase the presence of medical ingredients such as an instrument or medicine.
Green Colored Circle
What does the green dot on the food packet stand for? Or What does the green dot mean on the packaging? Green color packaging symbolizes the presence of natural or vegetarian food products.
Red Colored Circle
The red dot on food packaging indicates the presence of chemical or chemical-related items. In some countries, red is also used for packaging non-vegetarian products. The difference between red and brown dots on food products is that red symbolizes nono-vegetarian, whereas brown represents the products that fall between non-vegetarian and vegetarian.
Yellow Colored Circle
Food with yellow packaging represents the products containing the eggs or egg ingredients.
Read our other blog for detailed insights on how Mylar bags are used for long-term food product storage.
Conclusion
Colored dots on the food packaging act as guidelines for quality control and printing. These circles of different colors help you to maintain your brand integrity and engage potential customers. These dots indicate the nature of products, and even colored dots can’t provide information about the specific ingredients of products. Basically, these colored circles are used to ensure efficient packaging for different types of food products.
