Why this date gun label earns its place
Plain labels are the flexible end of date coding. With nothing printed on them, both lines are yours: a make date and a use-by date, a date and a batch or shift reference, a date and a product code — whatever the kitchen's own system needs. That suits sites whose coding does not fit one fixed form of words, and it keeps things simple where a single label stock has to serve several different jobs across prep, chill and counter.
The trade-off is that the discipline lives in the system rather than on the label. Whatever the two lines mean, they have to mean it on every shelf and on every shift, or the coding stops being evidence. Agree the convention, write it down and keep it by the gun, and the labels do the rest. Apply them to a clean, dry part of the container or its wrapping so the adhesive takes properly before the food goes into the cold.
