In July last year, Domino Printing Sciences launched a fast-drying ink to accommodate the newly released EU Falsified Medicines Directive (FMD) and US legislation.
"Under the legislation pharmaceutical product will be authenticated at the point of dispensation, making long term ink lightfastness and contrast vitally important, even after what could be years in the supply chain," stated Domino's life sciences manager, Craig Stobie. He also noted that medicine packs carrying code that cannot be scanned would likely be scrapped.
BK652 ink has a drying time of less than half a second and is four times more resistant to fade than comparable inks available for retail packaging.
That ink has found a new area of usefulness - in food packaging.
Greg Treanor, product marketing manager at Domino Printing Sciences in the UK, noted that there is a growing need for high resolution, high quality scratch resistant coding, which are key requirements for the packaging of ready meals and convenience foods.
“In order for food manufacturers to comply with the latest legislative requirements, they require an ink that is certified for use in packaging applications. Thermal ink jet lends itself well to the food industry, as it is one of the most efficient and clean solutions for delivering high speed, high definition coding within the controlled environments of food packaging production lines. We are confident that BK652 will prove to be a popular choice for businesses operating in the food sector.”
The new ink is now available for use with Domino’s G-Series Thermal Ink Jet range, which prints high-definition codes onto food packaging labels, cartons, sachets and pouches. Its quick dry time allows codes to be completely fixed and bonded without impeding on the productivity of the rest of the packaging line.
The high-contrast TrueType code allows for easier reading by machine vision systems now found on food production lines, minimising reject rates and stoppages.
The G-Series can print bar codes, 2D codes, human readable information and graphics onto a variety of both porous and non-porous surfaces.
Domino's products are available from Insignia in Australia.