New policies introduced regarding food safety; green packaging becomes a key focus

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This post was last edited by Thank goodness you're here on 2016-1-7 at 11:03. In recent years, due to excessive residues of harmful substances in food packaging materials and printing inks, incidents of food contamination and poisoning have occurred frequently. This not only endangers the health of consumers but also affects the healthy development of China’s entire food packaging industry, as well as the food industry as a whole. **Food packaging has been included among the six categories of products subject to quality supervision, and is thus under close monitoring. In other words, the safety of food packaging is just as important as food safety itself; safe food requires green packaging. 　　In China, regulations regarding paper used in food and products that come into direct contact with the human body prohibit the artificial addition of fluorescent brighteners; meanwhile, the use of polyvinyl chloride as plastic packaging material for food is also not allowed. Companies must adhere strictly to these rules. When selecting printing inks, companies should strictly control the risk of these inks contaminating food packaging and its contents. Generally, ink contamination arises mainly from the migration of toxic and harmful substances remaining within the ink; therefore, under conditions permitted by the printing process, environmentally friendly water-based inks should be used for production. For example, in the flatbed offset printing process, plant-based soybean oil can be used as a substitute for mineral oil as the binder in the inks produced, and such inks meet the technical requirements for environmentally labeled products. It is also necessary to avoid using solvent-based adhesives, to control the levels of phthalates in raw materials and auxiliary substances such as inks, varnishes, rubber sheets, and adhesives. Methanol and other such substances should not be added intentionally during the production of wetting agents; solvent-based varnishes should not be used, and environmentally friendly water-based varnishes should be employed instead. 　　Furthermore, industry associations or relevant regulatory authorities can also establish online trading platforms for raw materials and auxiliary materials used in food packaging printing, and set up systems for ensuring integrity, handling complaints, and publicizing blacklists, subjecting these to the supervision of the entire society. This will greatly facilitate companies engaged in food packaging printing in purchasing the necessary raw materials and auxiliary materials. 　　Throughout the printing industry, the concepts of green printing and clean production have taken root in people’s minds, driving the entire industry toward greener and more environmentally friendly practices. A comprehensive standard system for green printing is being developed; several standards have already been issued. Among them, the standard \"Evaluation Criteria for Green Printing Products – Part 2: Packaging Products\", which is still in the process of formulation, is closely related to the printing safety of food packaging. By adjusting the structure of the printing industry through green printing, it is possible to drive enterprises to transform and upgrade, thereby achieving the goal of eliminating those less efficient and encouraging those more advanced. Market-based mechanisms can be used to naturally eliminate outdated production capacities in the packaging printing sector, which will help change the current situation of excessive competition and disorderly development in the entire printing and packaging industry. 　　With the formulation, issuance, promotion, and thorough implementation of green printing standards, it is believed that the entire printing and packaging industry will make steady progress toward a development direction characterized by environmental sustainability, clean production, a low-carbon economy, energy conservation and emission reduction, as well as a people-centered approach.