Product labels
The marks on packaging and products, and what each one tells you.
Products carry marks meant for different readers. Some are printed for shoppers, like the ingredients information on a toothpaste box or tube. Others are there for the machines that make the package: the coloured square on a toothpaste tube is read by a sensor on the production line, and similar marks appear on milk packets and cream sachets. Others are certification marks, which an outside organization lets a product carry once it has checked the product or its maker against a published standard: the Rainforest Alliance, for example, allows its seal only on products from farms and companies its auditors have certified. The certification marks pages cover kosher, halal, organic and other seals. This collection explains what each kind of mark means, starting with the toothpaste tube’s colour mark.
The seals and logos that say a product was checked by someone: kosher and halal, organic, cruelty-free, fair trade and more, and what each one certifies.
The recycle symbol, the numbers in the triangle on plastics, and the marks for batteries and electronics, and what each one means.
The marks printed on packaging, from the colour squares on a toothpaste tube to the dates and quantities on labels.
Sources
- Do Color Codes on Toothpaste Tubes Identify Their Ingredients?, Fact check, Snopes
- Dubai Municipality allays toothpaste tube mark scare, 10 August 2016, Gulf News
- What Does Rainforest Alliance Certified Mean?, Last updated 8 September 2025, Rainforest Alliance
Last reviewed September 25, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research