Unified packaging systems shore up risky labeling gaps

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Unified packaging systems shore up risky labeling gaps

4 Feb 2026

Mari Rydings

Mari Rydings is a versatile content creator, editor and marketer with experience developing dynamic, results-driven materials for B2B and B2C audiences. As the editorial director for Avant Food Media, she leads the day-to-day editorial operations for the company’s print and digital magazines, newsletters and social media platforms. Outside of work, she loves reading, hiking, putting together jigsaw puzzles and spending time with her husband and their twin daughters.

WESTMINSTER, CO — In today’s highly competitive, highly regulated food manufacturing environment, source-to-shelf digital systems are a non-negotiable. Integrated, AI-driven systems that communicate flawlessly optimize production floor efficiencies, strengthen traceability capabilities, reduce packaging errors and minimize food safety risks.

Yet, according to the TraceGains report, “Digital Drag: The Growing Gap Between Tech Priorities and Implementation in the Food and Beverage Industry,” only 6% of companies surveyed said they have having fully integrated digital solutions.

Additional research conducted by TraceGains found teams across food, beverage, private label and adjacent industries struggle with siloed systems, email-based approvals and limited visibility into how changes ripple across SKUs.

Increasing packaging complexities mean greater risk

Commercial bakeries often focus on upgrading front-end systems to optimize operational efficiencies on the production floor. However, packaging systems often remain on the periphery.

“Traditionally, packaging teams have used different systems,” said Paul Bradley, senior director of product marketing for TraceGains. “In many cases, they have a different supply chain, so their sourcing and specifications may live in a different place from food product specifications.”

Yet, as packaging complexities increase, this system separation increases the risk of errors, especially when, in the rush to market, ingredient changes and allergen declarations aren’t communicated to packaging and artwork teams in time.

To address this challenge, TraceGains launched Packaging Specification Management, featuring native integration with portfolio partner Esko’s WebCenter Go packaging artwork management solution. The system unifies ingredient specifications, packaging data, product formulas, finished goods and artwork approvals into a single system.

Unified packaging systems get info to the right place, on time

For food manufacturers, such a unified system can result in reduced packaging and labeling errors, improved compliance, and accelerated speed-to-market of new products.

“Packaging errors remain one of the most common and costly sources of risk for CPG brands,” said Gary Iles, CMO, Esko and TraceGains. “By unifying ingredients, packaging, and artwork in one connected ecosystem, we’re mitigating the risk of miscommunication between teams and errors that could lead to costly brand recalls, reputational damage or worse.”

The end goal of unified packaging systems is to make sure the right information gets to the right place at the right time.

“In the first quarter of 2025 alone, nearly half of US food and beverage recalls were caused by undeclared allergens or other packaging and labelling errors,” Bradley said, “meaning the product wasn’t wrong, the path that it was in was incorrect, and that happens very easily.”

The Packaging Specification Management system features a compliance tool that digitally extracts information from a package such as the nutritional facts panel or allergen declarations and compares it to relevant regulations in the jurisdiction where the item will be sold.

“It can compare the package information to specification data and tell you whether anything on the package is wrong and whether it’s going to get you into trouble,” Bradley said.

Unified packaging systems support not only speed-to-market and smart manufacturing efforts but also conversations around traceability and transparency. They are a critical piece of a company’s digital thread, which ties together all aspects of a complex finished good, from its ingredients, to where those ingredients came from, to who supplied them as well as the packaging materials involved.

“I think unified packaging data management is table stakes for the food industry,” Bradley said. “In the next three or four years, I don’t think there’s going to be another way to operate.”

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