Muller Martini Marketing AG
Press Release
Date
No.
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Contact
17.07.2014
PI 1857
4093
Muller Martini Marketing AG
Untere Brühlstrasse 13, 4800 Zofingen, Switzerland
Tel. +41 (0)62 745 45 75, Fax +41 (0)62 751 55 50
info@mullermartini.com, www.mullermartini.com
Package Printing for the Food Industry
Web Offset has Many Advantages
Since even the slightest migration of inks can turn into a major disaster,
package printers have to satisfy the high expectations of food producers.
The VSOP variable web printing press from Muller Martini lets printers
meet these demands.
“For all of our packaging materials, we require our printers to use only state-of-the-art printing
methods that are designed for food contact applications,” says Dr. Stéphane Papilloud,
Packaging Group Manager, Quality & Safety Department, Nestlé Research Center in
Lausanne, Switzerland. That means that there cannot be any harmful effects on human
health or any unacceptable changes to the organoleptic characteristics of the product
(detrimental effects on smell, taste, color or appearance), and that everything must comply
fully with all relevant statutory regulations of the country in which the products are sold.
The producers of packaging materials have to demonstrate their compliance with Nestlé’s
requirements – both physical, such as artwork, and chemical, such as migration values, as
well as sensory harmlessness of the printed packaging materials. “That’s why Nestlé only
considers suppliers that can meet our commercial and technical requirements in a
sustainable way,” Papilloud says. “Suppliers of packaging materials are called to account if
our requirements are not satisfied.”
In-House Standards
In addition to the legal requirements imposed, for example, by the European Union, the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration or the Chinese government, Nestlé sets its own, stricter
standards for food packaging, for instance for the printing of the inside and outside of
packaging and for UV inkjet printing and residual solvents. “We always keep our suppliers
updated about those requirements,” Papilloud says.
The expert from the global corporation is impressed by electron beam inks. “It’s a good
technology that does not require photo-initiators, so that there cannot be any resulting
migration. However, the principles of low migration potential and low odor must also apply to
the rest of the printing ink formulation such as acrylates resins, oligomers and additives.”
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Muller Martini Marketing AG
Environmental Goods
Since the costs of compliance with extensive environmental requirements (exhaust air
treatment and explosion prevention) do not apply due to the use of UV or electron beam
printing inks, the environmental factor is one of the three major advantages that the web
offset printing method offers for food packaging, explains Bernd Sauter, Managing Director of
Muller Martini Printing Presses GmbH, Germany. “There are neither residual inks nor
residual solvents, and neither are explosion-proof storage for inks and solvents nor a washup system for machine parts, cylinders and inking rollers required. That leads in total to far
lower insurance costs for a production site.”
Growing Range of Substrates
According to the printing press expert from Muller Martini, there is another important benefit
of web offset: the growing range of printable substrates. “Until a few years ago, certain
substrates such as polyethylene could not be processed or required special knowledge of the
complex printing process. Today, advances in technology enable the stable and reliable
printing of such substrates using web offset.”
Whether it be the thermoplastic synthetic material polyethylene, polylactic acid (PLA)
consisting of corn starch, or stretch sleeves, which are increasingly widespread thanks to the
new web tension regulation on the VSOP variable web printing press, good cooperation
between Muller Martini and suppliers is contributing considerably to new substrates
establishing themselves increasingly quickly, Sauter explains. Another example is LPDE (low
density polyethylene), used by another of Muller Martini’s European customers for printing.
The LPDE foil feels softer and thicker, has lower density than a traditional foil made from
HDPE (high density polyethylene) and barely rustles. Thanks to these specific qualities, it is
ideally suited to the packaging of frozen foods.
Image captions
PI 1857-Papilloud.jpg
Dr. Stéphane Papilloud: “Nestlé only considers suppliers that can meet our commercial
and technical requirements in a sustainable way.”
PI 1857-VSOP.jpg
Lower printing plate costs, diverse substrate options and a reduced environmental impact –
the variable size VSOP web offset printing press from Muller Martini has become a real
alternative in package printing.
Please send a sample copy of the publication to:
Muller Martini Marketing AG
Documentation/Information
Untere Brühlstrasse 13
4800 Zofingen, Switzerland
www.mullermartini.com
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