LINTEC EUROPE is partnering with SCREEN EUROPE, a leading manufacturer of digital high speed inkjet printers and label and packaging solutions, to address one of the most pressing issues in the pharmaceutical packaging industry: ink and adhesive migration. LINTEC will be treating Labelexpo Europe (24th - 27th September 2019, Brussels Expo) as an opportunity to showcase its ultra-low migration labelstock, designed to be compatible with the low migration inks used by the Screen Truepress Jet L350UV+LM label press.
"Safety issues over the migration of ink and adhesive components throughout the pharmaceutical supply chain, as well as the potential health hazards they could pose to end users, are a cause for concern for brand owners and manufacturers," explains Soichiro Fujinaga, Technical Manager at Lintec Europe. "For this reason, label and packaging suppliers are facing a heightened demand to deliver solutions that ensure pharmaceutical products are protected from contamination caused by inks and adhesives that are capable of migrating through the package substrate."
As a countermeasure to this issue, LINTEC has designed an ultra-low migration labelstock that provides improved safety for labels on plastic-moulded pharmaceutical packaging. Developed primarily for use on aseptic Blow-Fill-Seal (BFS) fluid containers, vials and ampules, LINTEC's labelstock significantly reduces the risk of product contamination thanks to the inclusion of an ultra-low migration adhesive.
LINTEC's ultra-low migration labelstock is ideal for use with SCREEN's Truepress Jet L350UV+LM label press. Developed specifically for food and pharmaceutical packaging applications, the Truepress Jet L350UV+LM uses SCREEN's proprietary low migration inks, which are compliant with the strict safety standards of food and pharmaceutical packaging. The system features an innovative nitrogen purge mechanism that reduces the density of oxygen to an absolute minimum to accelerate the curing process and significantly minimise the risk of ink migration.
A series of independent third party migration tests were run to assess the performance of the labelstock, during which a solution consisting of 50% Ethanol or 3% acetic acid was applied to the adhesive side of the material and left in a 60°C environment over a period of 10 days. The final test results revealed that, when LINTEC's ultra-low migration labelstock is combined with the SCREEN Truepress Jet L350UV+ LM low migration ink, the overall migration limit (OML) is of 0.6mg/100cm2. "This is an outstanding result, when considering that the current EU regulation allowance for OML is 10mg/100cm2 maximum," says Soichiro.
He concludes: "In the highly-regulated pharmaceutical industry, label and packaging manufacturers have a responsibility to ensure their products are compliant with legislation and industry guidelines. By tackling ink migration jointly with SCREEN, LINTEC is showing its commitment to corporate responsibility and to delivering a product that provides brand owners and end users the reassurance that they need."
