WEILBURGER Graphics GmbH Newsletter

WEILBURGER Graphics Newsletter concerning Benzophenone and 4-Methyl-Benzophenone

Gerhardshofen, 23.02.2009 – On the basis of a report published by the “immediate warning system“ of the Federal Ministry for nutrition, agriculture and consumer protection dated 16th February 2009 relating to a case in Belgium of migration of the photoinitiators Benzophenone and 4-Methyl-Benzophenone caused by UV-hardening printing ink and –varnish in a box for cereals(SWN 2009/0118), as well as to other documented cases of migration of the same substances in cardboard boxes of chocolate bars from Belgium (SWN 2009/0118-add01, 2009/0118-add02, 2009/0118-add03) and the Netherlands (2009/0118-add04), the food packaging branch is stirred up. By the use of this newsletter, we would like to inform you, as our customers, about the backgrounds.

First of all: None of our lacquers of our SENOLITH^® UV FP (Food Packaging) product class contains Benzophenone or 4-Methyl-Benzophenone and no lacquers of WEILBURGER Graphics GmbH were applied in the above mentioned cases.

Benzophenone and 4-Methyl-Benzophenone can be used as photoinitiators with UV lacquers. This applies to our SENOLITH^® UV lacquers which are not designed for food packaging. Although at present there is no specific migration limit for 4-Methyl-Benzophenone, we militated against using this substance, as well as Benzophenone in our SENOLITH^® UV FP product class right from the start.

Therefore our lacquers of the SENOLITH^® UV FP product class do not contain any of such substances and you can continue using them without any problems for printing and varnishing packages for the food industry.

The FABES Forschungs-GmbH, an independent institute for analytics and evaluation of mass transfer, which tests among others our lacquers of the SENOLITH^® UV FP product class regularly for the compliance with the European and German law for food packaging, moreover certificates it.

As both substances mentioned are in principle not contained in water-based dispersion coatings, the danger of migration of Benzophenone and 4-Methyl-Benzophenone in SENOLITH^® WB coatings is excluded.

However the application of special inks and varnishes is inevitable regarding food packaging. We continue recommending our customers that they only use varnishes of our SENOLITH^® FP product class for food packaging.

Please do not hesitate to contact us in case of further questions. Call us or use our online community to discuss about this or other topics with other members.

Our list of contacts you will find here:
www.weilburger-graphics.de/en/contact/contactlist

Our Online-Community you will find here:
http://www.weilburger-graphics.de/en/community
(Please take notice that you have to log in at first with your profile details on the networking platform)

 
If you aren´t a member of our community yet, you could register here for free and without obligation:
http://www.weilburger-graphics.de/en/user/register

We would like to thank everybody who already is a member of our community!

Yours sincerely

Your WEILBURGER Graphics GmbH


Further information: www.weilburger-graphics.de


Contact:

WEILBURGER Graphics GmbH
Am Rosenbühl 5
91466 Gerhardshofen
Germany
Tel.: +49 9163 9992-0
Fax: +49 9163 654
info@weilburger-graphics.de



About WEILBURGER Graphics

WEILBURGER Graphics GmbH is one of the leaders in the field of print finishing for packaging, labels and job printing.

The company mainly produces for sheet-fed offset, heat-set web offset and off-line coating, and for the screen printing, flexo, gravure, narrow web and digital print sectors. Its tailor-made products are available for the market segments involving packaging, labels and job printing. It also offers seminars and consultancy services.

WEILBURGER Graphics is one of eleven subsidiaries of the GREBE Group, a medium-sized manufacturer of industrial coatings.

www.weilburger-graphics.de