Gallus and parent company Heidelberg have enhanced the capability of Labelfire UV inkjet digital presses to produce certified food-compliant labels.

The low migration version of the Gallus Labelfire is natively designed to produce food-compliant packaging in accordance with EU regulations and Swiss Ordinance. For this purpose, Labelfire UVLM inks have been engineered to be suitable for food contact packaging. These comply with the requirements of EU regulations No. 10/2011, No. 1935/2004, No. 2023/2006 (GMP), Swiss Ordinance, Nestlé Guidance Note and EuPIA guidelines. In addition to inks, the system includes a highly effective UV dryer system to ensure optimum curing. Directly after printing, the substrate is fed into a dryer with an inert chamber, which is flooded with nitrogen, with the exclusion of oxygen optimising the curing of the inks.

An optional UV booster enhances curing of the Labelfire UVLM inks at higher printing speeds, even at maximum production speed. In addition to the UV drying system, the Gallus Labelfire Low Migration is equipped with UV and oxygen sensors that measure production parameters.

Uwe Alexander, product manager, digital at Gallus, said, ‘Compared to the previous press, it makes no compromises when it comes to print quality, colour gamut and lightfastness of the inks.’

Thomas Schweizer, head of business and product management at Gallus, added, ‘We call it innovation because, together with Heidelberg, we have achieved a new level of UV inkjet technology. This includes the formulation of the ink and a matching curing technology. This enables our customers to comply with the relevant EU regulations as well as the guidelines of Swiss Ordinance and Nestlé Guidance Note in order to produce food-compliant labels and packaging.

‘We are proud to offer our customers a machine system that prints flexibly and efficiently, but furthermore it allows a very broad range of applications and thus also addresses various market segments. The Labelfire Low Migration is perfect for a successful entry into digital packaging printing for the food and pharmaceutical markets.’

Two Gallus Labelfire presses have already been producing food-compliant labels and packaging in line with legal requirements for the European market for months in a field test study. Since October 2021, the Gallus Labelfire Low Migration has been on sale to customers as a series machine.