Printers for Food Packaging
Linx is Holiday-Ready! Secure Your Consumables for the Season.
Food Packaging Printing
Linx is Holiday-Ready! Secure Your Consumables for the Season.
Food Packaging Printers
Food Coding, Marking and Labelling Solutions
Linx’s food packaging printers help meet a number of challenges faced by the food packaging industry, including batch coding, barcode, and more.
We deliver high-quality, legible codes which stay in place throughout the product’s lifetime to help meet the required food coding and marking standards. Large colour touch screens with graphical interfaces make code setup and selection quick and error-free, meaning fewer operator errors and product recalls.
The Linx CIJ and Laser Coder are apt for high-speed coding capabilities with carton coding features for both primary and secondary printing. While a range of IP ratings for continual, reliable operation in a food packaging coding environment, the self-service models require no service engineer visits.
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Food Label Printing Applications
| Baked Goods Production | Snack Foods Production | Ready Meals Production |
| The baked goods industry presents many challenges: from a broad variety of custom food packaging label types to dusty production environments that test the reliability of your packing line equipment. | In the snack food industry, there is an increased need for branding on Retail Ready Packaging (RRP) such as boxes and shelf packaging. Coded information on RRP should include expiry date details and batch codes for traceability. | Coding and marking in the ready meals and frozen foods sector places multiple demands on your equipment. Cold, dry and washdown environments bring with them the risk of water ingress to your production equipment, affecting their reliability |
| Linx food packaging printers are easy to use without complicated menu systems, making code setup and selection simple. | Our range of Linx 10 and Linx 8900 CIJ printers are self-service which makes it cleaner and easier to replace, further lowering your costs. | The increasing diversification of packaging shapes and materials- from plastic tubs to bags to card sleeves and cartons, is helping manufacturers achieve shelf stand-out in a growing industry. |
| As the baked goods industry experiences more product diversification – such as healthier, sugary and gluten-free options – so the food packaging requirements become broader, meaning your coding equipment must keep up with the changes. | Save money by replacing preprinted boxes or labels with a Linx large character coder. Code large, high-resolution graphics onto secondary packaging, as well as batch codes, barcodes and readable 2D codes. | Ready-meals and frozen food manufacturers across the world choose Linx food packaging printers for their ease of use, versatility, and reliability. |
Christmas Customisation Ideas for Food Packaging
- “Season’s Greetings” batch codes in festive fonts: Laser coders can embed these elegantly into pre-printed designs, while CIJ handles multi-line seasonal greetings fast and accurately.
- QR codes linking to Christmas recipes, offers, or festive greetings: Easily printed with TIJ, CIJ, or laser technologies.
- Large character “Happy Holidays” on gift cartons using LCM printers like IJ355/375- eliminate the need for labels and make your packaging truly stand out.
- Edible ink coding on specialty food items (e.g., cheese wheels or holiday eggs)- enhance appeal while ensuring traceability with food-grade CIJ and inks.
Printing Directly onto Food (Printing on Eggs /Chesse)
The coding and marking solutions for printing directly onto food include dedicated printers using Linx food-grade inks for ingestible food packages and products. Linx food printing systems are complete solutions which quickly and cost-effectively resolve food product markings needs. We have technical expertise in direct printing on eggs and cheese. Printing lot, date, brand, etc directly on eggs is a great way to increase the value of the egg.
Linx’s Continuous Ink Jet (CIJ) printers are perhaps the most cost-effective choice for food marking and coding. A wide range of food-grade inks is available to choose from for edible raw materials- meaning that you can safely print onto food products with solutions that conform to US and EU regulations.
Food Packaging Printing Solutions: Printer Types
Our printers for food packaging are suitable for coding on a full range of packaging materials used by food manufacturers, including paper labels, cardboard and plastic packaging, bottles, and even directly onto food products themselves such as eggs or cheese.
Continuous Inkjet (CIJ) Printers
CIJ can print on almost any food packaging substrate, and there is a wide range of inks available. CIJ can print from one to multiple lines of text and simple graphics on line speeds of up to 6.25m/s for a single line of code.
The compact printhead can be situated above, beside or beneath a production line or traverse from side to side across the line. With lighter models, the CIJ printer is capable of being moved quickly from line to line and is fast to install and set up.
- Meeting compliance requirements
- Meeting your output targets
- Reliable, continual operation
- Traceability of your products
Thermal Transfer Overprinters (TTO)
Thermal Transfer Overprinters are a high-resolution printer series suitable for coding onto flexible materials including films, foils, plastics and labels.
Linx TTOs use a precise heat transfer process to apply clear, durable codes directly onto flexible packaging films, making them ideal for high-speed FMCG production lines.
- Fast ribbon changes with an easy load cassette and automatic tension control
- Smooth integration on VFFS, HFFS, flow wrap and pouch lines
- Ribbon saving modes to help reduce cost per print and waste
- Prints text, date, shift codes, barcodes, simple logos, ingredients and real time coding
Laser Coders
Laser marking involves no ink in the coding process and therefore no drying time or risk of smudging. Laser coders are suitable for a wide range of food packaging substrates at any line speed. Benefits include increased uptime, higher speed capability and the fact there is no use for consumables.
They are particularly suitable where high-quality codes are required, for example, to blend in with the style of pre-printed packaging.
- Minimal maintenance, low downtime, high-speed capability and no consumables – cost-effective solution
- Codes can be incorporated within a pre-printed packaging
- Highly versatile as they provide clear, consistent and perfectly formed characters in a variety of fonts and message formats, even over relatively large print areas
TIJ Printers
Thermal Inkjet (TIJ) printers are increasingly favored in the food industry for their high-resolution printing, low maintenance, and adaptability to various packaging materials. They are ideal for printing batch codes, expiry dates, barcodes, and QR codes on diverse substrates such as plastic, metal, glass, and cartons.
When selecting a TIJ printer for your food packaging needs, consider factors such as production volume, integration requirements, and budget.
- High-Resolution Printing
- Maintenance-Free Operation
- Fast-Drying, Durable Inks
- Cost-Effective
- Easy Integration
Large Character Marking Printers
Ideal for high resolution, large character coding onto secondary food packaging, Linx IJ355 and IJ375 are large character outer packaging printing machines.
They offer a cost-effective alternative to labels and pre-printed box marking codes such as barcodes, QR codes, best-before dates, product ID’s and logos onto primary, secondary or tertiary packaging.
Inks and Solvents for Food Industry
Our wide range of specialist inks for Food Label Printing includes plastic adherent inks and low-odour non-MEK inks. Linx Black PE Ink 1130 offers excellent adhesion to polyethene (PE) and most polypropylene (PP) applications and is suitable for non-contact food packaging in line with Swiss Ordinance 817.023.021, the European reference for food packaging printer inks. Our wide range of specialist inks for Food Label Printing includes plastic adherent inks and low-odour non-MEK inks. Linx Black PE Ink 1130 offers excellent adhesion to polyethene (PE) and most polypropylene (PP) applications and is suitable for non-contact food packaging in line with Swiss Ordinance 817.023.021, the European reference for food packaging printer inks.
Manufacturing Quality Standards
Linx food-grade fluids are manufactured in dedicated food-grade facilities and are bottled under very carefully controlled conditions to avoid any risk of contamination with non-food-grade substances. All Linx CIJ printers manufactured for use with food-grade ink are manufactured and tested in dedicated facilities.
Contact Us
Why not get in touch with one of our sales reps to talk about how Linx can support your coding and marking needs?
Resources
Food Infographic
Coding Systems for Lean Production White Paper
Inks Brochure
Quality Foods
Mar ne Vall
Related Industries
Beverage
Specialist beverage coding machines with IP55 and IP65 ratings.
Dairy
Meeting the current and future food safety legislation and standards is crucial.
Confectionery
Meeting the demand for different types of plastic pack, in addition to the traditional paper or card outer wrappers.
FAQ- Food Packaging Printers
In the UK, food packaging must show date-marking (e.g., “best before” or “use by”), batch/lot numbers, production dates, and in some cases origin or special storage instructions. The coding mechanism (ink-jet, laser, etc) must ensure the mark is legible, permanent (until the point of sale/use), and linked to traceability.
Batch/lot codes are essential for traceability: if there’s a recall or safety issue, the batch code allows you to identify affected products quickly, isolate them, and communicate with customers or regulators.
The substrate (plastic film, cardboard, glass, coated board, etc), surface finish, environment (freezer, wash-down, humid) and required durability all influence which coding/marking method is best. Some inks are food-safe or suitable for direct food contact, and some packages require more durable, smudge-resistant print.
1. Packaging must carry certain mandatory information such as name of food, list of ingredients, net quantity, best before/use by date, business name/address.
2. Codes/marks must be legible, permanent/indelible and visible.
3. For pre-packed goods, the net quantity must comply with the UK Weights & Measures regulations.
4. Packaging material itself must be suitable for food contact.