Datalase Voted One Of Best Products In Awards

Sherwood Technology's Datalase has been voted as one of the best products in the Technological Development of the Year category at the Food Processing Awards 2004.

Sherwood Technology's Datalase has been voted as one of the best products in the Technological Development of the Year category at the Food Processing Awards 2004.

Datalase was nominated by industry judges as one of the four finalists from over 70 nominations from a span of products, companies and developments.

Datalase is a coding, marking and printing technique that combines chemistry, substrate conversion and very low power laser light for the high speed printing of images.

The awards, which honour excellence in the food processing industry, reward six categories, including product of the year, company of the year, packaging of the year, technological development, young enterprise and personality of the year.

The presentation ceremony took place at The Copthorne Effingham Park Hotel at Gatwick (UK).

Sherwood said that Datalase is a non-toxic and environmentally friendly ink, coating, or substrate additive that produces a positive image when marked by a low power CO2 laser.

The ink, coating or additive undergoes a simple chemical colour change and creates an image that is stable and has high contrast.

Compared to more traditional coding and marking processes, it also has a higher fidelity.

Imaging can also be formed through polypropylene and polyethylene films, allowing the image to be permanently embedded or 'sandwiched' in laminates.

The patented technique can be used for applications ranging from the coding and dating of products to the printing of graphics and security markings and is said to be equally suitable for metal decoration, flexible packaging, paper, board and plastics.

Sherwood added that research is also underway into the marking of glass and confectionery and pharmaceutical tablets.

On receiving the award, Steve Kelly, Sherwood's managing director commented: "We are extremely proud to have been awarded the accolade of having created one of the most significant developments in the food processing field over the past year.

Having our achievements recognised by the industry leaders makes all the hard work and dedication involved in inventing a revolutionary technique for the coding and marking of materials so worthwhile.".

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