Coding on food offers

YOUR CHALLENGES

Coding on food is a challenging application because of the fragility of foods that are printed on, like eggs, and the fact that ink comes into contact with foodstuffs, whether directly or indirectly. This means that the ink must be completely food grade compliant and must not alter the flavor or taste of the food in any way. One of the most in-demand coding on food applications in markets including the EU, UK and Australia is egg coding which is compulsory for traceability purposes and providing best-before dates.

Using inks that come into direct contact with food, known as food-grade inks, can be complex because numerous regulations exist relating directly to the raw materials that make up the inks. Printing on food may seem challenging, yet, in addition to reducing costs, the application offers benefits from greater flexibility to late-stage customization which can help brands differentiate themselves in a crowded marketplace.

Producers are also facing demands to code at ever higher production speeds and pack rates with a need to maintain consistently excellent quality. For applications like egg coding, each individual egg is marked and batches may contain thousands of units of different sizes, the demand to mark consistently, without blurring or distortion, and at high speed, is only suited to the most compliant and high-performance coding hardware and consumables.  

With decades of experience across the food production sector, you can trust Markem-Imaje to provide the optimum solution to coding on food.  

Fortunately, we can help you find the ideal coding on food solution to meet your needs. 

OUR SOLUTIONS

Continuous inkjet (CIJ printer) is the main technology for coding on food, both for direct food contact printing and indirect food contact coding. Markem-Imaje has a full range of specially-developed proprietary inks that are either fully compliant i.e. food grade inks.

Markem-Imaje proprietary CIJ inks, specifically designed and approved for direct food contact, are available in pink or blue, the color chosen depending on the region and, if for eggs, then whether they are white or brown. CIJ can print up to four lines of text and one logo per egg, allowing it to fit all necessary information and brand marketing if desired. Thanks to specific communications protocols, printers can be easily integrated with a variety of egg graders.

With more than four decades of experience in innovation in CIJ and consumables specially made for the food production and processing sector, Markem-Imaje can provide not only compliant coders and inks but also guidance through regulations. Indeed, we help manufacturers with  traceability essential for regulations, like the US FDA’s FSMA, and maximize your uptime and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).

Please note, if you are looking for flexible film packaging coding solutions, please visit our dedicated flexible packaging printing webpage.
If you are looking for primary paper packaging printing including labels, please visit our dedicated paperboard priting webpage.