Toluene (methylbenzene) is an aromatic hydrocarbon (C6H5CH3), which is a colorless, flammable liquid. It is widely used as an industrial solvent. Toluene is used in
The packaging is an essential tool utilized by the food business operators to differentiate the products from others. Beyond shelf appeal, packaging also provides protection to the products form physical, chemical, and microbiological hazards. Packaging materials can be a source of chemical contamination and may impact food safety and food quality. Among the different components of packaging material, packaging inks play a vital role as they might hamper product and consumer safety. Each packaging ink is a mixture of different chemicals and some of these chemicals might be harmful while holding the potential to migrate to the foodstuff when getting in contact. In terms of risk, the chemicals could be toxic, carcinogenic, mutagenic, repro-toxic and even endocrine disruptors. The government has imposed stringent regulations to protect consumers from the harmful effects of printing ink used. Thus, growing stringent regulation to use organic pigments had expected to boost the market growth.
Siegwerk, one of the leading global suppliers of printing inks for packaging applications and labels, headquartered in Germany, announced that it has partnered with Idealliance to offer G7® Certification for the printing community globally – including India. Idealliance is a transformational industry association providing global standardization, training, and certification programs for the printing and packaging supply chain. Their specifications, G7®, BrandQ®, GRACoL® and many more, have transformed the industry by creating a state-of-the-art architecture for production workflows.
The upcoming revision of the Foodcontactmaterials legislation (expected in Q4 2022) is again an opportunity for EU legislation on printing inks for food contact materials. In this interview, Dr. Matthias Henker explains the approach at EuPIA on printing inks for food packaging and which bottlenecks should be avoided in future legislation.
