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Details
Food contact labels
Food contact labels
Strict guidelines apply to materials that come into contact with food. This also applies, for example, to labels on food packaging or the food itself.
Within the EU, the guidelines are set by the European Commission. For Switzerland, for example, the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office assumes this task, and in the USA, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA). For artimelt, adherence to these guidelines is a given. We develop and produce our hot melt adhesives in accordance with them.
External controls
The commissions only approve substances that have been thoroughly tested in advance and where it can be proven that nothing can migrate into the food that could have a detrimental effect on the health of the consumer.
As a supplier of hot melt adhesives with direct and indirect contact with food, artimelt has all new developments tested externally. To this end, we send adhesive samples and information on the intended use and composition to the testing institute. In accordance with generally binding standards, the institute checks whether adhesive components could migrate into a food simulant. Typical food simulants are olive oil, which simulates contact with fatty foods, or Tenax®, which simulates contact with dry foods. This is followed by an assessment of the possible uses of the adhesives.
Indirect contact
Adhesives with indirect contact with food are subject to FDA 21 CFR 175.105. Examples are
- Labels used for product identification and advertising
- Sausage and cheese products in refrigerated display cases
- Plastic bags at fruit and vegetable shelves
- Fresh cheese, meat and fish products placed in a plastic bag and weighed at the fresh food counter then sealed with a self-adhesive label printed with product and price information
- Labels on sauces, spice jars or beverage bottles for information and advertising
Direct contact
The FDA 21 CFR 175.125 standard, for example, applies to labels that are in direct contact with food.
A typical application area is fruit and vegetables in supermarkets. Customers are often allowed to weigh these products themselves and then affix the printed label with the weight and price information directly to the selected product.
Other properties
- Permanent adhesive
- Removable
- Reclosable
- Transparent (clear-on-clear)
- Food labels for the refrigerated and frozen food sector
- Labels with barrier coating
- Fresh pack closures
- Linerless
- Thermal paper
- Film labels
- Special labels (e.g. seawater resistant)
- Bio-based