How to approve printed food packaging

Approve the finished structure

Start with a cross-section showing the food-contact surface, substrate, inks, varnish, adhesive, laminate and any separate liner. Record material identities, thicknesses, print coverage and drying or curing process. Ask the converter to explain any claimed barrier and provide evidence for the finished construction; an ink supplier’s statement alone does not establish that your pack is suitable.

Keep appearance approval alongside food-contact approval. Use our printed retail packaging guide for physical proofs and print inspection, and our food-contact guide for general safety and documentation. Here, the additional task is checking transfer from the printed pack through manufacture, storage and food use.

Fix the food use before choosing tests

Tell the specialist what food the packaging will hold, whether contact is direct or through a liner, and whether the food is fatty, acidic, moist or dry. Describe filling, heating, chilling, storage duration and temperature, and expected shelf life. Include foreseeable contact at folds, cut edges and closures. Put these conditions in the approval brief rather than accepting a generic food-safe claim.

Ask the relevant authority to confirm the requirements concerning constituent transfer that could endanger health, unacceptably change food composition or spoil its sensory properties, using the linked food-contact guide as background. Ask the specialist to identify the applicable UK requirements and explain which proposed tests and assessments address your construction and use.

Reproduce stacked and reel storage

Set-off is transfer from a printed surface to the surface facing it in a stack or reel. Map where the printed face touches the future food-contact face, including nested containers and flattened cartons. Ask for drying or curing records, the delay before stacking, stack pressure, reel tension, storage conditions and transport arrangements.

Agree a sample-conditioning plan with the laboratory that represents demanding but foreseeable factory and warehouse storage. Inspect for visible marking, then ask how non-visible transfer will be assessed. A clean-looking inner face, a rub check or a freshly printed loose sample is insufficient evidence for stored packaging. Keep conditioned samples and their storage history.

Request specialist migration and sensory evidence

Commission a food-contact specialist to assess the finished pack and select migration testing, set-off assessment and odour or taste-transfer testing appropriate to it. Ask the converter to supply formulation and process information directly to the specialist where confidentiality is needed. Include inks, coatings, adhesives, residual solvents and substances formed during processing in the assessment brief.

Agree the methods, conditioning, food or simulant selection, controls and acceptance criteria before testing. Require separate conclusions for chemical transfer and sensory effects; an acceptable chemical result does not by itself answer whether the pack taints food. A factory sniff check can flag a problem, but specialist sensory evidence should address the intended food use.

Require the report to identify the sampled batch, finished layer structure, artwork, process and tested conditions, with results, limitations and a reasoned conclusion. Check the laboratory’s relevant capabilities using our laboratory accreditation guide. Ask explicitly which work is within its accredited scope.

Release only the documented construction

Keep the approved sample, layer specification, supplier declarations, specialist assessment, reports and storage instructions together. Record whether approval covers a trial or production stock and any use restrictions. Hold release where samples do not match the order, results remain unexplained or the specialist cannot support the intended use.

Require review before changing the substrate, ink, coating, adhesive, liner, print coverage, curing process or storage arrangement. Cambridge China Bridge’s own staff in China can coordinate factory records and sample collection for your specialist review. The buyer should record final acceptance of the evidence and the finished construction.