3-in-1 Basonal® Food Contact Board helps reduce emissions and ensure food safety
Fully compliant with stringent food safety regulatory standards including USA, Germany and China
Superior printability makes food packaging more attractive
Hong Kong – April 13, 2017 – BASF today launched the novel 3-in-1 Basonal® Food Contact Board (FCB) paper coating binder, a unique solution that can be used in a wide range of food packaging applications, such as those for hamburgers, noodle boxes, popcorn buckets and sushi packages.
Basonal FCB offers unprecedented odor free lattices with lowest possible total volatile organic component (TVOC) levels, which not only meets the stringent food safety regulations in China, but also enables excellent printability.
“Sustainability and food safety have recently become more prominent topics in the packaging industry. Higher requirements for food packaging coated grades are being seen in the Asian market, especially in China. Paper and board customers are looking for new sustainable approaches to meet the ever-increasing food safety regulation requirements,” said Soehari Liono, Head of Regional Marketing for Polymer Dispersions for Paper Coatings, Fiberbonding & Product Management.
This low odor, low VOC product line is fully compliant to FDA (USA) and BfR (Germany) regulations, as well as the latest GB 9685, the new food safety standard for Food Contact Materials (FCMs) in China which specifies the hygienic standard for use of additives in food containers and packaging materials.
In addition, with its excellent printability in terms of ink absorption, brightness, mottle, no yellowing overtime, Basonal FCB provides versatile packaging design options allowing complex shapes and high quality color printing.
“The development of Basonal FCB demonstrates BASF’s commitment to helping customers meet industry standards and supporting their long-term success,” added Liono.
Basonal FCB - technology-driven solutions
Basonal FCB is the result of an in-depth cross-functional research and development project carried out at BASF’s comprehensive R&D facilities in Innovation Campus in Shanghai, housing approximately 600 researchers.
In light of the latest regulatory requirements, the project team identified and eliminated non-permitted food contact additives from the current latex after carrying out a thorough analysis process. BASF minimized the amounts of the key odor-causing components – 4-Phenylcyclohexene (4-PCH) and 4-Vinylcyclohexene (4-VCH) – that are typically found in conventional styrene-butadiene chemistry, to almost non-detectible levels. The team also eliminated other crucial additives used during the polymerization process that were identified as potential sources of strong odor from the converting and UV printing process.
Wide range of solutions for the packaging industry
BASF upgraded its standard portfolio for the paper industry (known as Styronal® and Acronal®) in 2016 by adding GB 9685 compliant versions including Styronal ES 7900, Styronal ES 7902, Styronal ES 7936, and Acronal S 728 ap.
The Styronal ES grades are already widely used in food packaging grades across China. Acronal S 728 ap is used by nearly all major liquid packaging board producers across the globe.
