Reliability in coding & marking for food industry

Leibinger and Sudpack take on the challenge

September 16, 2024

With special Leibinger inks, the recyclable food packaging from Sudpack can be marked and then sterilized. Johann Gihr, business development & innovation management at Sudpack (right), and Michael Wöhrmann, director Business development at Leibinger (left), are pleased with the successful outcome of their joint project.

Packaging leader Sudpack and industrial printing specialist Leibinger have joined to meet the growing demand for sustainable packaging solutions. The first joint project is testing the suitability of CIJ inks for printing on recyclable films for packaging food that is sterilised following the packaging process. The tested system combination of packaging and printing solution saves food manufacturers time and ensures investment security.

Today, packaging films are expected to be resource-saving and recyclable to support a circular economy. The EU Packaging Regulation requires all packaging on the EU market to be recyclable by 2030. As a result, composite materials are being increasingly replaced by monomaterials. If these monomaterials are not equipped with a barrier function that prevents ink components from migrating to food, they may only be printed with harmless ink. This raises the requirements for the production, coding & marking of packaging films.

Advancing R&D for more sustainability

The packaging market is experiencing very fundamental changes. And it is with this in mind that Sudpack is continuously expanding its portfolio of recyclable film solutions. The company is developing monomaterials that are very much on par with previous composite materials – both in terms of convenience and protection. For printing and coding this type of food packaging, Leibinger offers industrial inkjet printers and develops special continuous inkjet (CIJ) inks together with SIS Ink Solution, a Leibinger Group company. The interaction of these components is the focus of the joint project between Sudpack and Leibinger.

In test: Sterilisation resistance of CIJ ink for marking food packaging

Are continuous inkjet inks suitable for printing on and subsequently sterilising recyclable food packaging? Specialists from both companies investigated this very question at Sudpack’s technical centre. The team printed the innovative single-material solutions based on PE and PP with advanced CIJ ink. During the subsequent steam sterilisation, the printed films were heated at 121°C for 30 minutes. Assessment of the print samples before and after sterilisation showed that the print was still perfectly legible. The inks used are suitable for printing on food contact materials. This means that they only contain raw materials that are approved in compliance with the German Printing Inks Ordinance and the Swiss Commodities Ordinance.

How the collaborative project came about

The idea for the joint project between the two family-run Swabian companies Sudpack and Leibinger originated at a meeting at the PackExpo trade fair in Chicago in 2022. Together, the two companies set themselves the goal of providing food manufacturers with a packaging and printing solution that had already been tested for key customer requirements.

Results can be used directly by customers

“The sterilisation resistance of ink is always a major challenge. I am delighted that we have succeeded in developing a food-approved CIJ ink that is this effective when printing on monomaterials,” explains Thomas Paul, ink expert and managing director at SIS Ink Solution, a Leibinger Group company.

The companies

High-performance films and packaging solutions from Sudpack have been winning over customers in various industries worldwide for more than 50 years. With some 1,800 employees at 10 production sites worldwide, Sudpack distinguishes itself through its high level of innovation, quality and reliability.

Printers and inks from Leibinger in Tuttlingen, Germany, are also used worldwide. For about 75 years, the company has been an expert in industrial printing systems that are used to print expiry dates on packaging, among many other things. Leibinger is ideally positioned globally with 150 partners and 300 employees.

Live at Fachpack 2024

Leibinger and Sudpack are present at stand 7-550, hall 7 at the Fachpack in Nuremberg and experience the printing on the sustainable films live.

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Naresh Khanna – 21 January 2025

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