FDA Complaint Testing for Energy Curable Materials Used in Flexible Packaging

EB/UV curable technology has been known for many benefits including zero-VOC, production speed enhancement, overall cost reduction, and processing enabling capability. Recently, with the help of comprehensive and FDA compliant migration determination testing protocols, EB/UV chemistry has emerged as one of the mainstream chemistries for food packaging end-uses. Advances in development of the analytical testing protocols and latest FDA regulations will be discussed to illustrate the certification process for EB/UV chemistry. Examples of EB curable coatings and adhesives are shown here to qualify products for indirect and direct food contact applications. These examples also show that only with liquid chromatography with mass selective detector (LC-MS-MS) can one properly detect all migrants (both volatile and non-volatile) in contrast to gas chromatography (GC-MS) which detects only the volatile materials. Converters are urged to qualify or re-qualify the FDA status of the food packages containing EB/UV curable coatings, inks, and adhesives for full FDA compliance.