Sausage Labels
Sausage is a greasy product in a shiny pack, and both of those work against a label. Fat migrates to the surface of a vacuum pack over time, a cryovac pack is curved and slightly soft rather than flat, and the whole thing then goes below freezing. Get the adhesive wrong and the label is loose before the product reaches the case.
Why sausage labels slide or lift
Start with the surface. Vacuum film is smooth and low energy, and a film of fat on top of it is close to the worst thing you can ask an adhesive to bond through. Then the pack flexes every time it is handled, so a stiff facestock levers itself off at the corners. Then it freezes, which stiffens an ordinary adhesive until it stops gripping at all.
What works is a high-tack, FDA approved food-grade adhesive that applies down to −20 °F and holds to −60 °F, on a facestock chosen to move with the pack rather than fight it. Conformable stock for the soft packs, polyester or BOPP where the panel is flatter. Paper is the one thing we will talk you out of here, because a chilled pack sweats and paper drinks it.
Chubs, trays and butcher packs
A chub is a tube, so anything you put on it is wrapping round a curve and needs to be sized for that rather than for a flat artwork. Trays and skin packs give you a proper panel and the choice of a clear label if you want the product visible. Butcher and farm-shop packs are their own case: small quantities, copy that changes with whatever was made that morning, and usually a scale printer rather than a press.
Ingredient and allergen copy
Sausage carries a longer ingredient statement than most frozen product, and often a long allergen line with it. Send us the copy and we will set it legibly at the size the pack allows, which on a chub usually means deciding early what gets the front panel. Lot codes and use-by dates print variable on the same pass. What your product is required to declare is a question for your regulatory adviser rather than for us.
Custom printed or blank DIY sausage labels
Printed in full colour on our own press if the artwork is settled, or blank freezer-rated sheet labels you print and hand-date if you are a small producer running a different recipe each week. No minimums either way. Free samples are the sensible first step: stick one on a real pack and leave it in your freezer for a fortnight.
Learn more
Popular label formats
Rolls, sheets and die-cut shapes — paper, coated paper, waterproof poly and more.
Need custom sausage labels?
Tell us your product, size and quantity — we'll recommend the right material and send free samples.