The Ultimate Guide to Understanding Colored Dots on Food Packaging

You see them on every soda bottle, pasta boxes, and snack bars. Yet their true meaning is unknown to the consumers. We are talking about those tiny, colorful dots on your food packaging. These cryptic colored dots are not any random marks printed without a purpose. Usually consumers mistook them as an indicator for food freshness, presence of different ingredients, or pricing code. Thus, these are all myths and conflicting answers when customers google the dots. In reality, these patches tell a hidden story behind the printing process. So stop guessing about the colored dots on food packaging.
Read this blog to unlock the vital information on color blocks that the food industry has largely left unexplained. This guide is a definitive decoder key.

What do the colored dots on food packaging mean?

Colored circles on food packaging are known by multiple official titles. Some packaging manufacturers or printers call them “Printer’s Color Blocks”. While others use the term “Process Control Patches” or “Registration Marks”. Usually they are round in shape but square, rectangle, or bars are also used and are printed on the seams or edges. The shape of these dots depend on three factors.

• The setting of the printer
• The type of pressed used
• The design of the packaging

What is the purpose of using colored circles on food packages?

Forget the viral rumors about freshness codes or secret ingredient levels. The true purpose is purely technical and industrial. These colored circles on food packaging are used for:

Color Verification

Welcome to the high-speed world of commercial printing. Here the colorful circles you see on a bag of chips, candy wrappers or even pink food packaging are actually process control patches used for color density checks. Each color represents a specific type of ink color used for printing. This helps the press operators to verify if the machine is applying the right color.

Density Check

If the ink on your food packaging looks dull or washed out, it’s because the density check failed. Therefore, to prevent color variation, color dots are used. If the block is too light or too bold, this patch indicates that the ink flow or pressure needs adjustments. So that the printing of logo, colors, and branding elements is consistent across all packages.

Registration Checks

Does any food packaging boxes come across you where the colors were slightly misaligned? And the whole packaging gave a blurry effect? This visual flaw is called registration error. Since the colors are not printed in a single go but in layers. Therefore, these dots help confirm that all colors are perfectly aligned.

The role of color dots in printing process

These patches are not any random colored dots. In fact these ubiquitous patches are the calculated result of a multi-step printing process designed for flawless accuracy. Usually a four-color model is adopted for printing designs and branding features. This model is known as CMYK. It stands for:

• Cyan (a light blue)
• Magenta (a reddish pink)
• Yellow
• Key (Black)

These four colors are base inks that are combined in specific proportions to create any other color. Once the color is prepared, it is applied in layers. For sharp and bright printing results, these layers aligned with one another. To achieve perfect, crisp printing, every single color must be applied in the exact same spot. Colored dots on food packaging serve as a quality control indicator.

Debunking common colored dot myths

Stop reading the viral theories you read on social media. Let’s end this rumor mill by debunking the myths that surround the colored dots on food packaging.

Freshness Indicator: Many people think that colored dots on food packaging share a level of food safety. And this includes manufacturing or expiry dates. However, the dots have nothing to do with the date when the food was made.

Quality marker: Consumers perceive the dots as a difference between organic ingredients and artificial preservatives. But these dots do not display any organic or non-GMO status.

Product quality: Most of the customers refrain from buying food items as their color dots are absent on the packaging. Thus, concluding the product as a fake or substandard one. This is also just a myth.

Check Pricing: Color dots have nothing to do with the cost. Barcodes and QR codes are used for scanning and pricing.

Other important packaging marks

Now that you’ve decoded the technical printing marks. It’s time to focus on the symbols that are actually used to check food quality.

Best Before: It is a food quality indicator. This marks the time until the product can maintain its true flavors, texture, aroma, and nutritional values. So, do not eat the food past the mentioned date or time even if it smells fine.

Resin identification code: This is a recycling symbol. Three arrows form a triangular loop with a specific number inside. It is used to mention that these custom food boxes wholesale are manufactured using a certain type of plastic resin and can be recycled.

The green dot: Many people confuse it as an indicator for recyclable packaging. Actually it is purely a financing symbol. It signifies that the packaging manufacturer has a financial contribution in recycling schemes. This symbol is mostly used by European countries.

Conclusion

Now it’s quite clear and evident that these color dots on custom Kraft boxes in bulk that you order are no food indicators. But they are a behind-the-scenes tool used by printers to verify ink density, registration and color accuracy. Thus, helping the quality assurances inspectors to ensure that the printing across all packaging is consistent and accurate.