Sun Chemical has launched the fifth edition of Designing Packaging with Certainty, its best practice guide to printing food and sensitive goods packaging with conventional offset and UV/EB curing inks and coatings.

The 32-page guide, which is updated every three years, reflects the changing packaging market and legislation to support the development workflow in the production of safe packaging for food and other sensitive applications such as tobacco and pharmaceuticals.

The fifth edition of the best practice guide represents a summary of the key challenges faced by the packaging development supply chain based on Sun Chemical’s expertise within the packaging markets. Reflecting advancements in the market over the last three years, the 2017 edition has broadened its scope to feature more information on digitally printed packaging.

“The increasing focus on food safety by consumers and the evolution in regulatory frameworks and policing is driving deeper scrutiny of packaging by all stakeholders in the supply chain,” says Felipe Mellado, chief marketing officer at Sun Chemical. “In parallel, print and packaging technology is changing, from advances in digital printing to improved methods for migration analysis, meaning that good practice in packaging development and production is more important than ever.

“We launched the initial guide in 2004, which proved to be an extremely useful and popular document for print converters and end users," he adds. "We’re aware that a new European legislation is coming into place in 2018 and even though we’re unsure of what exactly will be included, we want to prepare our customers with as much information as possible on direct food contact packaging and migration-compliant practices.”