US-based Chromatic Technologies (CTI) has introduced a new, high-pressure indicator ink for the food packaging industry.
Incorporating anti-counterfeiting features, the patent-pending solution offers visual inspection validating the use of high pressure pasteurization (HPP) to food products.
The indicator ink ensures product safety in the supply chain to restaurants, grocery and drug stores as well as the consumer’s home.
Approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), HPP treatment will inactivate pathogenic bacteria and extend shelf-life of packed product within the food and beverage sectors.
The CTI technology is currently available in water-based and ultraviolet (UV) cured inks with plan to launch while solvent-based in future.
Chromatic Technologies chief marketing officer Patrick Edson said: “If you’re the Vice President of Food Safety at a large restaurant or grocery franchise with a national supply chain, you are managing a significant risk profile of millions of units of food packaging being delivered to your business under the assumption it has been processed through HPP.
“Customers tell us, ‘We only need one package to bypass the HPP machine and show up at a restaurant, and we have a huge problem. A quick visual inspection at our restaurants to see that the food has been subjected to high pressure mitigates substantial risk.
“It also provides regulatory agencies with the ability to confirm that the foods have undergone HPP.”
The CTI’s new ink technology for HPP can also be applied to pharmaceutical products. It can be used to print exterior of most of the packages currently available in the market.
When printed, the ink becomes clear and then increases color as it’s exposed to the very high isostatic pressures found in the HPP process.
