INX International launches ‘low migration’ packaging inks

Launched at the Graph Expo trade show in Chicago from September 11, the new EcoTech LM (Low Migration) range has been formulated without mineral oils.

INX International said the new inks were also cobalt free and had a minimal residual odour.

The firm said its new range complied with Nestlé's Guidance Note on Packaging Inks​ and US and EU food packaging guidelines for outer printing, as well as ISO 2846-1 standards

Migration concerns rife​

The Eco Tech LM range has been introduced at a time when migration issues – the transfer of substances such as mineral oils from packaging​ to food – were of significant concern to the food industry, the company said.

Sensitive chemical analysis might reveal substances where organoleptic (odour and taste) testing failed, INX International noted.

‘Low migration’ products included inks (such as EcoTech LM) and coatings specially formulated to minimise migration in use by using materials that do not migrate “under normal conditions of use”.​

Chris Bonk, vice president and sheetfed technical director, INX International said that the company wished to eliminate mineral oils from its food packaging inks. “INX selects raw materials for low migration inks with low odour in mind,”​ he said.

“This represents a best practice solution to avoid any unwanted organoleptic impact in packaging, as well as avoiding problems in terms of any potential health hazard due to chemicals from the graphic process.”​

But Bonk said INX recommended to industry players that low-migration ink testing, “be performed under actual press conditions”.​

“Not only must it [the ink] meet the single specific migration limit of individual components, but it must meet an overall migration limit on all components as well. And, it must also comply with a brand owner’s specifications."​

Bonk added that brand owners, printers and converters should clarify and publish migration protocols, as Swiss food giant Nestlé had done.

Néstle migration protocols​

Nestlé does not itself approve inks but asks printed material suppliers to formally declare compliance with its guidance note under contractual conditions.

Under ‘general requirements’, Nestlé's April 2010 note states that only inks and varnishes “carefully formulated​” for food packaging applications can be used.

This accords with negative lists and ‘substances of very high concern’ under the current EU Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation & Restriction (REACH) regulation.

Low migration principles must be proved by the packaging materials converter, Nestlé insists, while ink and varnish ingredients must comply with specific limits.

Potentially harmful ‘fanal’-type pigments – colour salts of basic dyes with inorganic complex acids – must be avoided, and printed packaging material use at high temperatures “thoroughly evaluated”​.

Under Nestlé guidelines, final converters must also assess the sensory impact of inks and varnishes on off-taste and off-flavour sensitive products such as chocolate, ice cream, fatty food and cereals.

As the third-largest producer of inks in the US, INX International has over 20 facilities in that country and Canada.