Always on the Safe Side: Self-adhesive Labelstock with an Extremely Low Migration Tendency

Published: December 05, 2023

• A recent comprehensive European study shows how sensitive consumers still react to the issue concerning the migration of substances into food.
• This risk with labels can be minimised easily and cost-effectively with the HERMA standard adhesive 62Dps due to its extremely low migration tendency.
• This adhesive demonstrates its strengths particularly on packaging films, even in cool/moist conditions and in high-speed labelling, such as blow-on processes.

The possible migration of substances from packaging materials into food is an issue that continues to cause serious concern to consumers throughout Europe. This became apparent recently in a study by the European Consumer Association BEUC entitled: “Unwrapped: What consumers say about safe and sustainable food packaging”[1]. 1,000 representatives from each of the 11 participating countries took part in the study. 70 percent of the responses are concerned about the health effects of chemicals in food packaging.

"Food manufacturers in particular are therefore doing well to keep the migration risk as low as possible, says Hendrik Kehl, Product Manager at HERMA. "In terms of labels and self-adhesive materials, however, it is now more simple and cost-effective as ever before."

As a specialist in self-adhesive materials, HERMA offers its multi-layer adhesive 62Dps with an extremely low migration tendency for 16 different label materials, many of which are available in the net width range that can be delivered at short notice. This adhesive demonstrates its strengths particularly on packaging film.

"Even in critical applications in cool/moist conditions, it shows very good performance and is hard to beat from an economic point of view," emphasizes Hendrik Kehl from HERMA. The 62Dps may be in direct contact with dry and moist food. In addition, it is suitable for fatty foods to which a correction factor of at least 3 can be assigned in accordance with Regulation (EU) No. 10/2011. Due to the very high tack characteristics, the 62Dps also achieves optimal results in high-speed dispensing systems, which work with blow-on processes, for example.

"Overall, the 62Dps shows the advantages of a multi-layer adhesive structure", says Hendrik Kehl. "In the past, it was necessary to choose between excellent adhesive force and very low migration tendency, but thanks to the multi-layer coating process that HERMA has brought to the market, it is now possible to get the best of both worlds."

As a low-migration alternative to 62Dps, HERMA also offers the adhesive 62Gpt which has been developed for particularly challenging environments and conditions. "In the food sector, however, our experience shows that in 95 percent of all cases the 62Dps is the optimal variant, also from an economic point of view."

[1] https://www.beuc.eu/reports/unwrapped-what-consumers-say-about-safe-and-sustainable-food-packaging; last downloaded on 04.12.2023