Depending on your industry, you may want to consider tamper-evident packaging for your products. This is an important safety measure for pharmaceuticals and can also be crucial for other products. Before opting for tamper-evident packaging, learn a little bit more about it so that you can decide whether it is right for your product and how to incorporate it.
What It Means
Before getting into details of tamper-evident packaging, you need to understand the basics. Essentially, tamper-evident packaging gives the consumer a visual indication that someone has previously opened the packaging. It is different from tamper-resistant packaging, which prevents opening the item except in specific situations.
The most common example of tamper-evident packaging is medications that are in blister packs with foil and plastic for each pill. It is incredibly obvious if someone has tampered with the packaging before purchasing, in this case, since the foil and/or plastic will not look right.
Options for Tamper-evident Packaging
There are multiple ways that you can create tamper-evident packaging. This way, you can choose the method that works best for your industry and your customers. If you are not sure which type to go with, see what your competitors use.
You can opt for a tamper-evident shrink band on products with caps or lids. This would be the plastic band on the top of an ice cream container, or the plastic wrapped around the neck and top of a salad dressing bottle.
If you have a jarred or bottled product, you could use this method or opt for a button-top security lid. That lid will pop open with an audible sound when it opens the first time. It also tends to curve a certain way before being opened, so customers have visual and audible proof their item is new. Items with plastic caps can have a small plastic ring attached to the bottom of the cap when sealed, with the ring disconnecting when it is opened for the first time. This is common in milk jugs and plastic water or soda bottles.
You can also opt for some sort of tamper-evident tape, which will work well on nearly any product. You just choose a tap with appropriate wording and place it strategically on the item, such as over the seal of a box.
There are even high-tech tamper-evident options if you deal with more expensive or highly sensitive products. In this case, you can include an RFID code under the label so customers, or at least retailers, can scan it and track the packaging.
Benefits of Tamper-evident Packaging
With that information in mind, why would you use tamper-evident packaging? Simply put, you want to give customers confidence that no one tampered with your product and it is exactly as advertised. In the case of consumables, whether food, drinks, or pharmaceuticals, people will want to know that the item they put in their body is safe. In the case of expensive items, it lets customers know that no one has opened the packaging to replace the real item with a counterfeit or just potentially damaged the item by opening it.
