Beware of ink contamination when eating food

Pollution caused by the ink in the packaging and food industry is becoming increasingly important. This is the news that the reporter recently received at the press conference of the Asian International Label Printing Exhibition. As China has no edible ink at the moment, direct contact with food is indispensable, but the risk of ink penetrating the packaging is more difficult to find.

Scene: Citizens ignore ink contamination

The reporter saw many fast food restaurants in Guangzhou that many people had the habit of pouring food onto the plates. At a Western fast food restaurant in the west gate, a group of high school students poured french fries and ketchup on paper. However, the reporter found that printed a small line of words on the plate of paper: "This plate of paper for the general printed matter, can not be in direct contact with food."

On November 3, Dong Jinshi, vice president of the International Food Packaging Association, said in an interview whether ink migration will occur with food, packaging materials, and ink itself. "If the food is oily, the ink can easily penetrate the package into the food." He said that the other is the penetrability of the packaging materials, in general, the use of multi-layer composite film will be a little better, such as paper-plastic composite , aluminum plastic composites and so on.

Hazard: Ink or toluene and lead

Zhang Liming, deputy director of the National Quality Supervision and Inspection Center for Printing and Decorating Products, once pointed out to this newspaper that once the ink and the harmful substances in the food packaging have migrated, it may cause toluene, lead and other harmful substances in the food.

“At present, there are no edible inks in China.” Dong Jinshi said that 80% of domestic inks contain benzene solutions, and benzene solutions are carcinogenic. Even with environmentally friendly ink that does not contain benzene, the ink itself cannot directly contact the food. Dong Jinshi believes that it is very difficult for the average consumer to distinguish the packaging itself from the migration of ink. “So I called for companies that use benzene-free green ink to be labeled on the packaging and used as a reference for consumers to purchase.”