Manufacturing inks that meet regulatory standards is becoming increasingly important for food packaging, and inks that are approved for direct food contact are very much in demand.

Headquartered in Chalfont, PA, Colorcon No-Tox® Products manufactures and supplies these types of inks. Its focus is on US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and EU regulatory compliant specialty printing inks for direct and indirect contact with food, medical devices and pharmaceutical items.

Demand is growing worldwide, and with an eye on the EMEA market, Colorcon No-Tox has opened a new manufacturing facility in Dartford, UK. This will allow the company to reduce lead times and shipping costs.

“Our new No-Tox plant in the UK, which is an extension of our existing pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in Dartford, will allow us to serve our customers in increasingly better and more efficient ways by providing our high-quality regulatory compliant inks and coatings with close proximity to their markets and at lower transportation costs,” said Simon Tasker, president, Colorcon Americas.

The UK expansion serves as a manufacturing site and distribution location site for No-Tox inks. All product development and technical support services, such as quality and regulatory, continue to be managed centrally by Colorcon No-Tox’s teams in the USA.

Mike Gilbert, Colorcon No-Tox’s GM, said that the company is seeing increased demand and business growth for No-Tox direct food contact compliant printing inks in Europe, with new requests for No-Tox inks coming from several European companies.

“Due to the relatively long lead-times and costs associated with shipping ink products from our USA facility in Chalfont, PA, we took the decision to better service this market by implementing manufacturing directly in Europe,” Gilbert said. “Colorcon’s existing facility, in Dartford, UK, has manufactured and supplied color concentrates for the pharmaceutical and food industry for many years. This existing facility has provided the opportunity to expand manufacturing to produce No-Tox inks and ship directly to our growing customer base across Europe.”

“The plant will initially focus on regulatory compliant inks and coatings for direct and indirect food contact applications, such as those widely used in the plastic to paper straw conversion,” added David Bain, managing director, Colorcon Ltd. “The addition of medical and pharmaceutical inks and coatings will be extended through 2020.”

The opening coincides with the COVID-19 pandemic, which has driven a heightened interest in medical products.

“Since the pandemic started we have experienced a marked increase in demand from the medical marketplace, where No-Tox inks are used on many life-sustaining products such as medical devices, surgical tools, protective facial masks and their packaging,” Gilbert observed.

There is also a surge in interest due to the growing importance of sustainability. For example, paper straws are seen as a more environmentally friendly alternative to plastic straws. These require inks that can be directly in contact with the user.

“In recent years, we have seen heightened interest in inks for single-use, disposable food service items, such as drinking straws, paperboard plates, etc.,” Gilbert said. “There are concerns due to the overall safety of ink components migrating to foods and beverages from such items. Questions are also being raised regarding the impact of the components of printing ink and coatings on such paper products when they are recycled or composted.”

Gilbert added that Colorcon No-Ton continues to see increasing regulatory mandates for direct and indirect food contact inks.

“Regulations are ever-increasing and becoming more stringent with respect to food contact materials, particularly in the EU and in China,” Gilbert pointed out. “We continuously monitor the activities of the EU Commission, EFSA and the China CFSA so that we can offer products containing materials suitable for specific food types, substrates and conditions of use.”

Overall, Gilbert expects further growth in direct and indirect food contact inks going forward.

“Our research indicates growing interest across many areas of the world in food packaging safety, especially the ability to recycle and biodegrade,” he added. “This is leading to the increase in demand we are now seeing, particularly in Europe. Providing No-Tox ink manufacturing directly in Europe fits well with Colorcon’s overall goal of being close to our customers and having plants strategically located to enable us to service our customer needs more efficiently.”