Packaging for Retail

Packaging for Retail: Getting Your Food Product Ready for the Shelf

Packaging for Retail

Getting a food product onto a retail shelf requires more than putting your product in an attractive package.

Your packaging has to protect the food, communicate important information to the customer, work with your production process, survive transportation and storage, and meet applicable labeling requirements.

For many small food businesses, packaging is also one of the first places where the transition from farmers markets and direct sales to wholesale becomes real.

A package that works perfectly when you personally hand a product to a customer may not work when that same product travels through a distributor, sits in a warehouse, gets stocked by a grocery employee, and remains on a shelf for several weeks or months.

Start With the Food, Not the Package

It is easy to choose packaging based primarily on appearance. Start instead with what the food needs.

Ask questions such as:

  • Does the product need refrigeration?
  • Is it sensitive to air, light, or moisture?
  • Could oils or liquids leak through the package?
  • Is the product fragile?
  • Does the package need to be resealable?
  • How long should the product remain saleable?
  • Will the product be frozen?
  • Does it require tamper-evident packaging?
  • Will the customer need to see the food before buying it?

Your package is part of your food-production system. The wrong package can shorten shelf life, increase damaged product, create labeling problems, and make production unnecessarily difficult.

Make Sure the Package Works in Production

Packaging that looks great in a catalog may be frustrating when you are filling hundreds of units.

Before ordering a large quantity, run a small production test.

Fill, seal, label, box, refrigerate or freeze if necessary, transport, and store the product just as you expect it to be handled after launch.

Watch for problems such as slow filling, difficult seals, labels that peel off, condensation, leaking containers, inconsistent fill weights, or packaging that takes too much storage space.

A few seconds of extra packaging labor may not matter when making 25 units. It matters a lot when making 2,500.

Build Your Retail Label Carefully

FDA regulates labeling for most packaged foods in the United States, although USDA and other agencies regulate certain products. FDA’s Food Labeling Guide covers required statements and other labeling issues, but FDA notes that portions of its older guide are being revised and directs businesses to newer resources for subjects including allergen and Nutrition Facts labeling.

Depending on the product and applicable exemptions, a retail food label may need information such as:

  • Product identity
  • Net quantity
  • Ingredient statement
  • Allergen declaration
  • Business name and address
  • Nutrition Facts
  • Other information required for the particular product

Ingredient and allergen information deserve special attention. FDA currently recognizes nine major food allergens: milk, egg, fish, Crustacean shellfish, tree nuts as defined by FDA, peanuts, wheat, soybeans, and sesame. FDA updated its allergen-labeling guidance in 2025, so producers should rely on current guidance rather than old label examples found online.

Do not treat label design as purely a graphic-design project. The label is a regulatory document as well as a marketing tool.

Add Lot or Batch Identification

Even when a particular lot-coding format is not mandated for your product, assigning production lots is a good operating practice.

A lot code allows you to identify which production run created a particular package.

For example:

LOT 260818-A

might identify a product made on August 18, 2026, during production run A.

The important issue is not the exact format. It is whether you can take that code and determine:

  • When the product was produced
  • Which recipe/version was used
  • Which ingredients went into the batch
  • Which supplier lots were involved
  • How much was produced
  • Where the finished product was sold

For foods subject to FDA’s Food Traceability Rule, traceability lot codes play a specific regulatory role and must be linked to required traceability information.

Establish Shelf Life Before Scaling Distribution

Retailers want to know how long your product can remain saleable.

Avoid choosing a “best by” date simply because a similar product has one.

Shelf life can be affected by the recipe, water activity, pH, processing method, packaging material, temperature, sanitation, and other factors.

Depending on the food and associated risks, establishing shelf life may require professional testing or assistance from a food scientist or process authority.

You also need to consider usable wholesale shelf life.

If your product has a 30-day shelf life but takes seven days to reach a retailer, the retailer effectively receives only 23 days.

Think Beyond the Individual Package

Retail packaging usually involves several packaging levels.

There is the package the consumer buys, but there may also be an inner pack, shipping case, pallet configuration, or insulated shipping container.

A retailer may ask questions such as:

How many units are in a case? What does one case weigh? What are its dimensions? How many cases fit on a pallet? Does the case have a product identifier? How should the product be stored?

These questions become increasingly important as the business moves from local hand-delivery into larger wholesale accounts.

UPC Barcodes

Many retailers require products to carry UPC barcodes.

A barcode is not the same thing as a lot code.

The UPC normally identifies the product or SKU. The lot code identifies a particular production lot of that product.

For example, every 8-ounce package of your Original Granola may carry the same product UPC, while packages produced on different dates carry different lot numbers.

Before purchasing barcode numbers, find out exactly what your target retailers require.

Packaging for Retail Checklist

Before approaching retailers, confirm that:

  • Your package protects the product through its expected shelf life.
  • The package can be filled and sealed efficiently.
  • Your label has been reviewed for applicable requirements.
  • Ingredient and allergen statements are accurate.
  • Net contents are accurate.
  • Nutrition labeling requirements have been evaluated.
  • Each SKU can be consistently identified.
  • You have a lot-coding system.
  • Shelf life has been established appropriately.
  • Storage requirements are clear.
  • Case-pack quantity is established.
  • Shipping cases protect the product.
  • Barcode requirements have been addressed.
  • You know your packaging cost per unit.

Common Packaging Mistakes

One common mistake is ordering thousands of custom-printed packages before the recipe, package size, or label is finalized.

Another is overlooking packaging labor. A beautiful package that takes two minutes to assemble, fill, seal, and label can become very expensive as volume increases.

A third is allowing multiple slightly different label files to circulate among employees and printers. Maintain one controlled current version for every SKU.

Where Production Software Helps

As the number of products and batches increases, packaging becomes connected to inventory and traceability.

A production system can help connect finished products with recipes, production batches, lot numbers, ingredient usage, inventory quantities, and sales.

DoBetter by Otherfoods Kitchen is designed to help small food producers manage those connections without moving immediately into a large manufacturing ERP system.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a UPC barcode to sell food in stores?
It depends on the retailer. Many retail systems require standardized product identification, so ask prospective retailers about their requirements before purchasing barcodes.

Is a lot number the same as an expiration date?
No. A lot number identifies a production lot. A date mark communicates date-related information. A producer may incorporate a production date into its lot-number system, but they serve different purposes.

Does FDA approve my food label before I use it?
FDA states that it does not pre-approve food labels. The business is responsible for complying with applicable labeling requirements.