Traceability along the entire packaging supply chain – from manufacturing to point of sale – is increasingly important to ensure food safety and quality. The thermal transfer printing technology thermal transfer overprinting (TTO) can help brands stay compliant.

In order to comply with the US FDA’s strict traceability requirements coming into force in 2026, the Food Safety Modernization Act’s (FSMA) final rule on Requirements for Additional Traceability Records for Certain Foods, there are two essential elements.

A major change for all EU wine producers and those supplying the market will mean that, from 8 December this year, wines will, for the first time, require extensive late-stage ingredient and nutritional information included on their physical and/or digital wine labeling.

Thermal transfer overprinting (TTO), a type of thermal transfer printing, has evolved with the market, enabling companies and brands to achieve high-quality, compliant marking and coding on a new generation of sustainable substrates and packaging.

With growing consumer awareness and evolving regulatory requirements driving the need for greater traceability, transparency and thus brand protection, there is a shift towards additional data embedded within product coding on candy box packaging.

Our marking and coding solutions and CoLOS® software have helped the German organic FMCG reference Töpfer to reduce the environmental impact of its packaging operations and to gain traceability and verification capacity for the first time.