A label that fails at −18 °C almost never failed because the adhesive was weak. It failed because three materials moved at different rates.
When a packed product goes from +20 °C to −18 °C, the container contracts, the label contracts, and the adhesive tries to hold both. If the adhesive glass-transitions above the service temperature it goes brittle and stops flowing; the label then lifts at the edge where the stress concentrates.
Freezer-grade acrylics are formulated to stay tacky below −20 °C. Standard permanent acrylic is not. This is the single change that fixes most failures, and it is the one buyers most often skip because the sample worked at room temperature.
Paper absorbs moisture and moves; film does not. On a chilled or frozen surface that cycles through a defrost, a paper label grows and shrinks while the container does not, and the differential shows up as edge curl. PP or PET face stock removes that variable.
A label applied at +2 °C onto a wet or frosted surface traps a film of moisture under the adhesive, and no formulation recovers from that. Either apply before chilling, or specify a wet-surface adhesive and accept a lower shear value.
Apply a short run to the real container, chill it to the real service temperature, and leave it for 72 hours, then cycle it warm-cold twice. Anything that survives that will survive the supply chain. Ask us for a sample run on the same press rather than a generic swatch.