Price: 10.00
Manufacturers want improved, lowercost
processes for decorating food packaging.
UV curing has been demonstrated
to provide improved performance and
lower costs for many food container ap-
plications. (1.2) UV flexo has been widely
discussed as a means of providing improved
print quality and lower production
costs for flexible packaging.
Cationic UV inks and overprint
varnishes (OPV) offer the processing
advantages of UV and they adhere to
plastics and metals such as treated
polyolefins, polyester, PVC, and foil.
Cationic OPV is being used to decorate
food containers because of these
advantage. (1) However, manufacturers
that are considering using UV are concerned
about the hygiene of food
packaging decorated with UV inks because
UV ink ingredients do not have
FDA status as indirect food additives.
To address these concerns migration
experiments and safety assessments
using FDA guidelines and formulas
intended for polyolefin additives
were conducted and the results
are presented. (3)
