A high speed labeling machine especially designed for use in food or pharmaceutical processing environments. It can be periodically washed down in accordance with applicable governmental standards without entry of washing fluid into an interior of an enclosure assembly containing servo motors and the electronics for driving shafts that penetrate through a wall of the enclosure assembly and on which a label web supply reel and a web take-up reel are removably mounted. A plurality of idler rollers and a pinch roller are used to route the label carrying web from the supply reel, over an edge of a peel plate, where the labels are separated from the web, and back to the web take-up reel. The idler rollers and the pinch rollers are journaled on shafts in a way precluding entry of wash fluids into their interior. The enclosure assembly is cantilever-mounted on a jack stand for vertical adjustment relative to items to be labeled.