Novel photoinitiators prevent migration

The inks and lacquers for food packaging are cured by irradiation with UV light and contain, besides reactive oligomers, photo initiators to start the curing reaction. If not formulated and processed correctly these compounds might migrate out of the printed ink layer. Set-off of these components (printed on the outside of packaging material) and direct migration into food have become a major concern in the packaging industry. New photo initiators that prevent migration have been developed. Helmut Gräger, BASF SE will report on this new initiators at the European Coatings Conference "Packaging coatings" taking place in 12&13 October in Berlin, Germany.