Page 50 - FINAT Yearbook 2019

UV Printing
UVFOODSAFE UPDATE
FINAT, together with converting members, ink formulators and equipment manufacturers and RadTech Europe, has formed a cross-industry group aiming to build confidence in and grow the safe use of UV printing in label and packaging production.
Print trails of the UVFoodSafe Group at Bobst
After initial meetings in 2018 to decide on the goals, vision and approach of the group, work started in earnest at the end of that year and led to a number of preliminary tests conducted this year.
The full UVFoodSafe Vision Statement reads:
“To create confidence within end user and converter communities in the use of UV printing in food packaging and labels through education and the provision of application specific best practice, enabling the consistent delivery of compliant print to the market.”
WORKSTREAMS
At the moment, UVFoodSafe consists of two working groups and a management committee chaired by FINAT, the European label industry association.
To facilitate the work, the two working groups focus on different aspects:
Working group 1 is concerned with ‘Process’. It is looking at optimisation and control of the printing and UV curing process, along with alignment with GMP and production data and traceability for each print job.
Working group 2, ‘Print’, is looking at
• Pack and label design and risk assessment;
• Materials selection (substrate, inks, consumables); • Print quality control (using, for example, FINAT test
methods);
• And print certification, including sampling and migration
testing.
50 | FINAT YEARBOOK 2019