Is UV ink food safe?

Date: Sep 11 2024 From: Star Color

In the food packaging industry, the choice of ink is crucial because it is directly related to food safety and consumer health. As a highly efficient and environmentally friendly printing material, UV ink has been increasingly used in the field of food packaging in recent years. It can be seen that UV ink has reached food safety grade.

Why do some people have doubts about this?
The reason is that food has been contaminated several times due to problems with UV ink printing, so people doubt whether UV ink has reached food safety grade. Next, let's divide it carefully.

Composition and characteristics of UV ink
Composition
UV ink is mainly composed of resin, photoinitiator, pigment, additives, etc. Among them, resin is the main film-forming substance of ink. Photoinitiator initiates the polymerization reaction of resin under ultraviolet light, so that the ink cures rapidly. Pigments give ink color, while additives are used to adjust the properties of ink, such as fluidity and viscosity.
Characteristics

Fast curing : UV ink can be cured in a very short time under ultraviolet light, greatly improving production efficiency.
Environmental protection : Compared with traditional solvent-based inks, UV inks do not contain harmful solvents, reduce the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and are environmentally friendly.
Weather resistance : After curing, UV ink has good light resistance, water resistance, chemical resistance and other properties, and is suitable for a variety of harsh environments.
Good printing effect : UV ink has bright colors and high gloss, which can enhance the visual effect of printed products.

From the composition of UV ink, UV ink is indeed a safe ink, but the photoinitiator in the UV ink originally printed on the surface of the cardboard migrated through the multi-layer composite packaging material and eventually entered the milk. This is mainly because although the multi-layer composite packaging material is known to be water-blocking, oxygen-blocking, and high-barrier, it has not effectively resisted the migration of photoinitiators.
Is UV ink food safe?

Next, we have to continue to evaluate the safety of UV ink.
Migration of UV ink
The components in the ink may migrate into food through the packaging material, posing a potential threat to human health. Although UV ink is environmentally friendly, the photoinitiator, pigment and other additives in it may still migrate. Therefore, the migration amount of UV ink used in food packaging must be strictly controlled to ensure compliance with food safety standards.

Relevant regulations and standards
Countries and regions have strict regulations and standards for the composition and migration amount of ink in food packaging materials. For example, the EU's EC No 1935/2004 regulations, the US FDA regulations, and China's GB 4806 series of standards, etc., all have detailed regulations on inks in food contact materials. These regulations and standards usually require that the content of harmful substances in inks shall not exceed a certain limit, and stipulate the corresponding migration test methods.

Application Cases
At present, many food packaging companies have adopted UV ink for printing. These companies usually choose UV ink that meets food safety standards and ensure the safety of their products through strict testing and certification. For example, some high-end food packaging such as chocolate boxes and biscuit boxes are often printed with UV ink to enhance the grade and visual effect of the product.

Seeing this, do you feel strange, why UV ink does not seem to be safe, why high-end food packaging is still printed with UV ink.

Let's go back to the previous incident of milk being contaminated by photoinitiators. It is because the UV ink has not been completely dried under the irradiation of ultraviolet light, which causes the excess photoinitiator to migrate. It may be that the content of photoinitiator in the ink is too high and the quality is unqualified, or it may be that the power of the UV lamp is insufficient during printing. This situation will not occur in normal printing. The quality inspectors will also check whether the UV ink is dry. The truly dry UV ink will not have this migration phenomenon.

So we can say that the normal printing of UV ink can reach food safety grade, but it must be strictly implemented in accordance with relevant regulations.

Huizhou Zhongzhixing is a manufacturer specializing in the production of UV inks, and strictly abides by international regulations. The quality can reach food safe, and there will be no migration when printing food packaging. Everyone is welcome to consult.

Is UV ink food safe?

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