Flexible food packaging, including sachets, pouches, and bags, plays a key role in the safe storage of perishable food items. Manufactured from foil, film, or paper, this packaging is easy yielding so that, when printed and sealed, it acquires a pliable shape and is easier to fill to a desired capacity. However, the printing of food packaging is more challenging than other substrates and there are important considerations to bear in mind to safeguard product quality and safety.

The food industry is subject to a lot of safety regulations regarding food-contact packaging and labelling. This extends beyond food safe substrates to the inks used in the process. As a packaging or label printing business, you have to choose the best kind of ink that won't impact the quality of the food content, while simultaneously keeping costs under control. Here’s a brief look at food contact inks and one of the major issues involved.

Until recently, a food label being ‘bumpy’ was by no means a good thing. However, multinational dairy company Arla is trialling a food label with a difference – one that develops bumps when food deteriorates and becomes inedible. These labels are designed to stop food from being thrown away prematurely. In 2015, UK households discarded over seven million tonnes of food – which cost each household roughly £500 per year. The Food Standards Agency has estimated that more than 50% of this wasted food could have been saved.

Most printing businesses are keen to reduce label printing costs. A quick way to do this is to cut corners by reducing label size, Using an alternative substrate, offer cheaper alternative Inks. However, there is only so much you can do to cut costs & it doesn’t make good business sense for most companies to adopt this approach, as customers will simply go elsewhere if their needs are not met.

If you’re engaged in the food labelling business, you need to be able to communicate information about your customer’s food so that the consumer can make an informed decision. Regardless of whether the food is loose or vacuum packaged, or sold in a supermarket or online, there are certain requirements which must be met on all food labels.