Analysis of Samples Treated by Resistance Test Method Exposed to Accelerated Aging

Abstract

Global awareness that packaging has to be fully adequate and of high quality, is gradually increasing. That is why printing inks and substrates, which have no detrimental effect on packed products, should be considered a compulsory precondition for food and tobacco packaging. Printing inks that have been developed in the recent years, especially for food and tobacco packaging, have low-odour and low migration into the printing substrate during the drying process. Their migration into the printing substrate is within the acceptable limits and has no detrimental effect in terms of food safety. Another extremely important element of prints in high quality food and tobacco packaging is their stability, as they have to be resistant to liquids and chemicals, which are a part of packed product. The selection of an appropriate printing substrate is also extremely relevant, since the interaction of substrate with printing inks should have zero effect on the packed product and should not change the physical appearance of packaging. This paper presents the results of analysing the stability of laboratory samples printed with low-migration inks, observed immediately after the printing (unaged) and two treatments of accelerated aging. The accelerated aging of prints was conducted in order to simulate conditions in which food and tobacco packaging can be found due to the prolonged indoors storage. The stability of prints was analysed based on optical characteristics by observing the prints’ relative reflectance curves.