Obstacles to UV Flexo Ink in Food Packaging
As formulations and safety regulation of UV flexo ink are new and have strict procedures and need to bear expensive cost for testing the result for guarantee its environmental to human body. In the meantime, the solvent based ink or water based ink are more widely used in market with less formulations, its reduce the cost when compare with UV flexo ink.
Due to its widely using worldwide, especially in EU countries, safety regulation of UV flexo ink is also uncertainty prevails. But some famous brands highly recommend the tests for flexo ink, like EU regulation 1935/2004/EC, Swiss Ordinance and upcoming German Ordinance, EFSA procedure, GMP EU Procedures, FDA authority and etc. UV flexo ink is a young industry and confront with many unclear rules as obstacles.
Even UV flexo ink is extremely dynamic and constantly looking for new solutions for higher curing speed and lower ink migration, and also need solutions for better transferring for high printing quality with less cost. Naturally its research and development of food packaging cost is high, which is also another obstacle.
UV Flexo ink also exists some inherent risks, especially for its used free-radical UV inks do not purely cure under UV exposure. Hence the mass production of printing for food package, those UV flexo ink might be migrate to the food since its UV curing is not well controlled.
Edit by Vikas
Print Series Team
5 March, 2012
