Really random question for supermarket workers...

[GrubbyMcGee]

I'm sorry this is so incredibly random and pointless but Google hasnt been able to answer my incredibly random and pointless question that now it's really bothering me (clearly I have very little going on in my life right now...)

Anyway, I bought a bottle of listerene today. I went to check the ingredients and there was a plain white sticker over them. So I pulled it off to see and noticed the sticker had a black back to it. My first thought was it was a security sticker that would set off the alarms should any mouth wash thieves be at large. Boredom led me to googling and security stickers seem to have a network of wires on the back. I cant find what the point of this plain white sticker with a black adhesive side is for and now I really want to know.

I chucked it in the bin so cant find to photograph or I would. But can anyone tell me what this sticker would have been for. A other thought was to censor the ingredients if they are incorrect on the bottle 🤔

Yes, they can have a plain black back. Never noticed certain items being rubbed on a pad at the till?
That's to deactivate it.
The most shoplifter item is razor blades ( the cartridge type, not the old fashioned ones).

@IgiveupallthenamesIwantedareg0 if it's over a certain price it's getting tagged. You'd be surprised what people steal and it hits everyone in the long run because businesses have to recover their losses.

@GrubbyMcGee yes they are plain white. We usually use them for larger items but if the store has been on a tagging spree you'd be surprised how quickly the normal ones run out. They are literally a last resort because they are too big and cover up all the information as you've discovered.

It being scanned is what deactivates i believe

It's definitely a security label

I have seen that @weedsnseeds1 but those stickers always look different to me, are more square (this was rectangle) and have pattern of lines on the back that I guess is what sets off the alarms...

Ah ok! Security tag it is then. Good job I paid for it 😉

If you had missed anetgen off of a label, you would have to recall all stock and reprint the packaging.
However the UK allergen list applies to food products not non-food products.
USA allergen list doesn't include crustaceans for exame, so you would have to oversticker to make sure that was highlighted in the required UK format.
But for non-food like mouthwash or shampoo, there is still a legal format for labelling and you can't oversticker ingredients with a blank label.

Allergen - no idea what anetgen is!

Thanks @Weedsnseeds1 that's interesting to know.

Might pop back to Tesco tomorrow and complain about the positioning of the tag over the ingredients. (Joke, I wont do that!)

@GrubbyMcGee I know you wouldn’t complain but next time you see it it’s worth saying something as said if it’s the ingredients it’s covered it could be dangerous ☺️ This thread made me smile so much deep stuff on here today. Thank god you needed more mouthwash.

@catty1720 glad it made you smile. I'm now reflecting on the fact that I have spent probably over an hour of my Saturday night wondering what the sticker was on my mouthwash. WTF has my life come to???!

@GrubbyMcGee we’re in lockdown what else would you be doing 🤣🤣

There are 14 allergens on the UK list for food, some of these are not really an issue for us but the list is based on EU e. g. celery allergy is more common in Scandinavia, lupin is not usual in the UK diet. However that's not to say someone can't have a rare and random allergy to something, so all ingredients have to be shown in the prescribed format so customers have the info available.