Click here to go to our low migration uv shop
In recent years, certain elements of some chemicals used in non low migration printing inks, have been found to be present in the food were non low migration ink has been used on packaging that surrounds them. Although these chemicals would have to be present in standard printing inks in unimaginably high volumes to be harmful to humans, they are still deemed to be unacceptable at present levels with non low migration inks. Migration occurs when tiny particles of chemical, travel through the packaging and find themselves actually on the surface of the food within.
Migration is measured by the volume of a component of one billion parts, at present; a typical printing ink could give a contamination reading of 100-150 parts of every one billion parts of packaging measured.
The Committee of the Council of Europe have put in place a resolution and a set of guide lines for all ink manufacturers, on packaging inks applied to the non-food contact surface of food packaging materials and articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs. Resolution ResAP(2005)2.
Global food giant Nestle' have gone one step further and issued a Protocol which sets the requirements and tolerances of measurement of low migration inks much higher, at 10 parts per billion or less. Printing ink manufacturers and packaging printers have adopted this protocol as industry standard and now strive to achieve Nestle' compliance.
INX Printing inks North America have established direct contact with Nestle', one of the first Major printing ink companies to do so, and provided Nestle' with compositional information on every low migration ink requested.
INX have demonstrated compliance with Nestle' requirements through independent migration testing, performed at SQTS laboratories in Switzerland, nominated by Nestle'.
"INX low migration UV ink the only ink to follow and exceed the Nestle Guidance Note"
The Guidance Note, or Protocol is a series of requirements that Nestle has implemented to address the risk to foodstuffs linked to packaging materials.
It is a direct results of the following materials found in foodstuffs:
–Mineral oil (1992)
–BADGE (1996)
–ESBO metal closures (2003)
–ITX (2005)
–Bisphenol A (2008)
–4 Methyl Benzophenone (2009)
–What's next?
•We have established communication directly with Nestle, and are the first North American group to do so.
•We have executed non-disclosures with Nestle, and have provided compositional information on every ink requested.
•We have formulated and field tested products that use materials deemed acceptable by Nestle, and we are working to get approval in worst case scenario, which will default us to all applications. We have already demonstrated via an outside lab acceptable migration results depending on condition.
•INX will work in partnership with Nestle to review protocols and future revisions of them.
Fusion Low Migration Ink Series
–Migration testing performed on process colors at SQTS Labs.
•Web press on Polyethylene at 180m/min
•Web press on Polyethylene at 300m/min
•Metal Deco SheetfedPress
•Web press on paper at 300m/min
•Various Sheetfedpress testing
•FlexoLM Series
–All colors in final INX lab migration testing
–All colors still high strength