Buy a full case and the price per unit drops automaticallyRequest a sample
AccountCart0
All ContainersBottlesJarsCaps & ClosuresPumps & SprayersTubs & PailsJugsDroppersTinsTubesAccessories
Industries
Learn
Bottling

Getting a label to stay on

Updated

On this page6

Spice labels fail in two places: the curve and the cold. Both are solved at the ordering stage rather than the applying stage.

The surfaces you are sticking to

A small jar is a tight radius, and a label designed flat has to conform to it. The smaller the jar the worse it gets, and spice jars are among the smallest containers that carry a full ingredient panel.

Glass, PET and metal each take adhesive differently, and a facestock that lies down happily on glass can lift at the leading edge on plastic.

What actually makes them lift

Three things, in order. Radius: too stiff a facestock on too small a jar will peel from the ends. Contamination: powder on the jar wall from filling, or a trace of oil from handling, and the adhesive never gets a grip. Temperature: applying cold, or storing cold, before the adhesive has flowed and set.

Almost every failure is one of those and almost none are the printer's fault.

Panel size is a constraint

The label has to carry a statement of identity, a net weight on the principal display panel, an ingredient list where there is more than one ingredient, allergens where present, and your name and place of business.

On a 4 oz jar that is a genuine squeeze, and it is the reason to check the panel dimensions before ordering jars rather than after designing a label. Shrinking type to fit is not an available solution.

Ordering and applying

Specify the facestock and adhesive for the actual container and the actual radius, and ask the printer for a sample applied to your jar rather than a flat proof.

Then apply to a clean, dry, room-temperature jar, brush the rim and wall down after filling, and let the labeled jars sit a day before packing. Adhesive continues to bond for hours after application, and a case packed immediately is a case where the edges are still loose.

The surfaces you would be sticking to

On a jar this size the panel is the binding constraint, not the artwork.
2 oz Amber Glass Straight-Sided Round Jar
2 fl oz · 53-400 · Glass · to 300F
Glass straight sided jar.
$0.53
each
See it
4 oz Clear Glass French Square Bottle
4 fl oz · 33-400 · Glass · to 300F
French square.
$1.74
each
See it
Double Wall Round Base Jar
2 fl oz · 58-400 · PP · to 240F
Double Wall Round Base Jar.
Quote
See it
2 oz White PP Plastic Single Wall Jar
2 fl oz · 53-400 · PP · to 240F
PP Single Wall Jar.
$0.36
each
See it

References

No published source. This page is written from practice rather than from published guidance. No extension service or agency publishes on this question for spices, so nothing here is cited, and it should be weighed as experience and not as a standard.
Written from published specification and peer-reviewed work, not from a laboratory of our own. Your supplier's certificate of analysis, your own moisture readings and your state's rules override anything general said here.