mislabeling

Mislabeling refers to the incorrect assignment of information on a label or identifier. This can involve what an item is, where it comes from, its contents or ingredients, its origin, or other attributes such as expiration dates or batch numbers. Mislabeling can affect physical goods, biological samples, or data used in research and decision making. It may result from human error, ambiguous guidelines, or intentional fraud.

In consumer products and food, mislabeling may mean undeclared allergens, incorrect ingredient lists, wrong origin claims, or mislabeled expiration dates. In pharmaceuticals and medical devices, labeling errors can affect dosage instructions, storage conditions, warnings, or lot numbers, posing safety risks. In laboratories, mislabeling of specimens or samples can compromise experiments and patient care. In data science and practical automation, mislabeled training data degrades model performance and can propagate biases. In shipping and inventory, incorrect labels can lead to misrouting, mispackaging, and customer dissatisfaction.

Causes include simple human error, language translation issues, complex supply chains, barcode or label format failures, and intentional fraud. Consequences range from consumer harm and recalls to regulatory penalties and reputational damage, as well as financial losses from waste or misplaced inventory. Effective detection depends on verification steps, audits, and traceability.

Prevention strategies include clear labeling standards, quality-control checks, barcoding or RFID tagging, double-checking processes, multilingual labeling, tamper-evident seals, and robust record-keeping. Regulatory frameworks in many jurisdictions address mislabeling as misbranding or false or misleading labeling, with penalties for manufacturers and distributors. Accurate labeling remains a core aspect of safety, trust, and compliance across industries.