A peel assembly is provided for separating a label from a releasable backing. The peel assembly includes a housing, structure for driving the backing and labels through the housing, a peel bar for bending the backing therearound, a plurality of deflector rollers proximate to the peel bar for deflecting the backing away from the label and towards the peel bar, and a plurality of supporting rollers proximate to the deflector rollers for supporting the label as it exits the peel assembly. After the backing, which has the labels thereon, passes over the peel bar, the backing is passed between the peel bar and the deflector rollers and the label passes over the deflector rollers and then over the supporting rollers.