Label Insights

Flint Group innovates for food packaging compliance

Pierre Dogliani joins L&NW to explain how inks and materials must perform safely under the packaging’s intended storage and use conditions.

Released By Flint Group

October 6, 2025

The efficacy of food labels and packaging is critical. Suppliers must engage in best practices to ensure the safety of the public. Flint Group, for example, has invested countless resources in developing a holistic approach to food contact materials.

To learn more about compliance and overcoming the various challenges with food contact materials, L&NW sits down with Pierre Dogliani, Technical Director, Narrow Web Europe, Flint Group.

L&NW: What should converters know when working with food contact materials?

PD: Designing safe and compliant food packaging starts with two priorities: protecting the product from migration of unwanted substances and delivering safe products to consumers. Achieving this requires a holistic approach to packaging design, from concept and material selection to package production, as migration can stem from multiple sources including inks, coatings, and adhesives. Therefore, it is critical that best practices are integrated at every stage of packaging and label development, and production process.

One primary preventative strategy is the use of substrates that exhibit inherent barrier properties. Functional layers, such as aluminum foils and films, can physically separate food or sensitive goods from materials that could otherwise transfer unwanted migratory substances.

Of equal importance is the careful selection of Food Contact Material (FCM) inks, adhesives, and coatings. Each material must perform safely under the packaging’s intended storage and use conditions. With UV cured inks, the curing process must be precisely controlled to immobilize potential migrants such as residual monomers or uncured photoinitiators.

Equally important is controlling storage and processing conditions. Contact between printed and food-contact surfaces should be minimized to avoid offset migration and high temperatures and humidity in storage should be avoided, which can accelerate the migration rate. Finally, packaging and labels should be stored in clean, dry managed environments to avoid contamination.

Rigorous migration testing underpins the effectiveness of all these strategies. Comprehensive testing assesses not only inks, coatings and adhesives but also all interactions within the packaging system, including lamination and post-print processes. This testing is essential for demonstrating safety and compliance in a landscape where international and national standards are constantly evolving.

L&NW: How challenging is this space, and how does Flint Group serve as a partner to customers to ensure compliance?

PD: Printers working with food contact materials face a number of challenges, with the most obvious being the evolving regulatory situation. Inconsistent or rapidly evolving standards can present significant hurdles – for example, Europe’s Regulation (EC) 1935/2004 published in the Official Journal of the European Union on November 13, 2004, doesn’t directly address inks for food contact materials, so national rules, such as the Swiss Printing Inks Ordinance, often serve as default benchmarks. New regulations, like the German Printing Ink Ordinance, can further complicate compliance by altering permitted substance lists and superseding existing protocols. Consequently, ink formulations and packaging designs frequently require re-evaluation and requalification.

Testing ink formulations for migration compliance presents another major challenge. While essential for consumer protection and regulatory approval, this process can be time-consuming, leading to increased inefficiency and costs.

To help customers navigate these shifting challenges, the Flint Group team focuses on delivering safer, future-proofed solutions designed to streamline compliance and reduce testing complexity. Leveraging its expertise, Flint Group partners with packaging and label printers and key industry associations to interpret new requirements and stay prepared for regulatory changes, reinforcing its position as a key ally in the quest for compliance. The company also offers a broad range of inks designed specifically to support compliance and safety in food contact materials, including the newly launched UV Hg flexo ink, Flexocure LEAP.

L&NW: What’s important to know about these inks from a curing perspective?

PD: Curing plays a central role in the safety and efficacy of inks destined for use in food contact applications, including Flexocure LEAP. Many of these inks are formulated to cure under UV light, which helps to secure photoinitiators and monomers firmly within the ink film, diminishing the risk of migration into food. However, the effectiveness of curing depends on meticulous process controls. Insufficient curing – which may be caused by weak or failing UV lamps, improper lamp-to-substrate distance, and factors like ambient temperature, humidity or dust in the air – heightens the likelihood of migratory substances, emphasizing the need for precision and comprehensive process validation to ensure food safety and regulatory compliance.

L&NW: What are Flint Group’s newest products to support label converters?

PD: To help label converters address current and future regulatory demands within the scope of FCM, Flint Group has developed Flexocure LEAP, a cutting-edge advancement in UV Hg flexo ink technology.

Flexocure LEAP utilizes a revolutionary resin system with fewer migratable components, which both reduces migration risk and simplifies regulatory compliance for printing food packaging applications. The ink’s streamlined formulation also means fewer substances require regular migration testing, leading to time and cost savings for printers because of the reduced need for migration testing.

This future-proofed approach enables printers and converters to adapt more easily to evolving regulatory compliance requirements.

Flexocure LEAP is compatible with diverse applications such as pressure sensitive labels, shrink sleeves, and machine-coated papers. The range boasts high curing speed, strong color strength, excellent adhesion, and dependable press performance. With Pantone basic and high-resistance colors, a full four-color process set, and opaque whites, the solution empowers converters to deliver versatile, safe, high-quality label printing for brand owners.

L&NW: What services and support does Flint Group offer to reduce migration risk and ensure compliance?

PD: Beyond products, Flint Group is dedicated to equipping converters with the knowledge and tools to manage migration risks and achieve lasting compliance. Expert teams provide up-to-date regulatory guidance, assistance with ink selection, advice on Good Manufacturing Practice, and optimization of process controls.

Flint Group’s dedicated laboratory facilities in Trelleborg (Sweden) and Rogers (USA) offer customers access to advanced presses for simulating production and trialing new products. This hands-on approach helps converters identify and address risks before scaling up, delivering confidence and compliance at every commercial run.

L&NW: What were Labelexpo Europe attendees able to see at the Flint Group booth?

PD: At Labelexpo Europe 2025, Flint Group unveiled the world premiere of Flexocure LEAP, offering attendees their first opportunity to explore the benefits of this breakthrough ink system. Global regulatory and R&D experts from the company were available to discuss the technology and answer questions about achieving safer, future-ready food packaging.

In addition, Flint Group featured its established EkoCure ANCORA dual-curing range for food contact applications, the Evolution Series products designed to enhance label recyclability and advance circular packaging models, the VIVO Colour Solutions platform, and innovations from its digital division Xeikon, showcasing a variety of the latest digital press innovations.