Variable Date And Coding Marking Passes US Tests

Datalase's Packmark laser marking system has been successfully trialled by the American Bakers Association (ABA) for the marking of variable information on polyethylene bread bags.

Datalase's Packmark laser marking system has been successfully trialled by the American Bakers Association (ABA) for the marking of variable information on polyethylene bread bags.

In four field trials conducted in bakeries, time, date and expiration codes were laser marked on a blank white panel on the top and end of the bags.

The field trials were conducted as part of a project initiated by ABA last February in response to the pressure put on bakers and their suppliers by strict environmental and food safety regulations requiring an increasing amount of readable information to appear on baked food packages.

The initial tests for date and code marking involved 25 companies and results were very positive, confirming the suitability of Datalase Packmark for this application, said Datalase.

The success of the experiments additionally demonstrated that there is room for more applications involving the whole gamut of variable data, such as security marking, special graphics, nutrition facts panels as well as ingredient and allergen information, added the company.

According to Datalase, using Packmark enabled bread bags to be marked easily, code quality was consistent, even with the inconsistent height and shape of the product.

Traditionally, laser equipment is used in many bakeries for the coding and marking of boxes.

The adoption of the DataLase process for bag marking would reduce maintenance by standardising on one marking method across a range of applications.

Additionally, air emissions from many of the inks and inkjet fluids involved in current bag marking processes contain a sufficient amount of air pollutants to trigger burdensome US Environmental Protection Agency requirements, said the company.

The use of Packmark is claimed to eliminate those emissions.

Requiring no ink or ribbons, Packmark is said to be environmentally friendly and virtually maintenance free.

The process combines chemistry, substrate conversion and very low power laser energy for the high speed printing of variable information on primary packaging.

Claimed benefits include increased productivity and image stability for brand protection and Packmark is said to be equally suitable for any type of primary packaging substrate including flexible packaging, paper, board, plastics and metals.

Dr Anne Giesecke, vice president of policy analysis for the American Bakers Association, commented: "Packmark represents a significant step forward in meeting the increasing need for a greater amount of variable information to be applied to bread bags.

That it achieves this in compliance with environmental laws and lower maintenance costs is positive.".

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