With increasingly strict and regionally variable regulation of printing inks for food packaging, printers have been required to use a variety of inks in order to meet regulatory demands for European and North American markets. This has made already complex supply chains even more complicated as printers strive to comply with specific regulatory requirements for ink migration limits and raw materials that are different from one region to another.
To help printers more easily meet this challenge, hubergroup has reinvented its MGA NATURA series with a single ink that complies with all FDA Standards and EC Regulations for folding carton food packaging in one formula. This results in reduced approval cycles and increasing production flexibility for brand owners, while printers and converters no longer need to maintain large stocks of a variety of ink types and undertake costly, time-consuming press wash-ups when packaging is destined for different global regions.
Vertical integration enhances hubergroup ink formulation flexibility
The unique ability of hubergroup to develop and manufacture its own customized raw materials was key to this success. Chemists discovered a method for incorporating a well-assessed, fully bio-compatible but in this way yet-unused raw material into its MGA NATURA series ink formula. “Our R&D staff did a terrific job, when they invented this single global ink formula!” says Taner Bicer, Chief Technology Officer. “They were able to identify, gain approval for and introduce the substance, while significantly improving printability and lowering migration risks, thus exceeding regulatory requirements in many regions, and meeting stricter requirements in others.”
hubergroup’s own strict MGA guidelines for packaging printing inks guarantee that the ink is produced in compliance with all relevant standards –including Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) requirements for printing inks for food contact materials. These new inks consist of substances that will not migrate or which have been approved for food contact. Migration will be far below the migration limits. Brand owners and printers can be assured that these inks do not include impurities or undesirable substances which could inhibit regulatory compliance of food packaging. The new MGA NATURA inks are globally available commencing in January 2019 and include both process and spot color inks.
“We are pleased to be introducing this innovative folding carton ink, the safest packaging ink on the market,” Bicer adds. “No matter where printed folding cartons are headed in the world or from which country ink is sourced, this new MGA NATURA ink will be no restriction for compliance with all relevant regulations.”