Actega awarded gold level material health certificate

This gold level certification provides customers with further confidence in the safety of Actega’s complete FoodSafe portfolio. According to the company, this additional assurance enables users to produce legally compliant food packaging as well as offer brands packaging solutions that adhere to the highest material health requirements for coatings.

The certification also allows Actega to develop new products or adapt existing ones to customer requirements from the tested raw material matrix, without automatically losing the FoodSafe Gold status. This affords Actega much greater flexibility to meet its customers’ evolving needs whilst ensuring its commitment to sustainability and consumer safety is not compromised.

‘Climate change, food shortages, plastic waste and species under threat of extinction are all negatively impacted by unsustainable packaging. The Cradle to Cradle design principle offers manufacturers a route to ensuring the products they supply are made from materials that are recyclable and environmentally friendly and, therefore, ‘healthy.’ The Material Health Certification is a valuable tool for optimizing the material health of products,’ explained Dr. Hans-Michael Lenz, head of QC, environment and product safety, Actega. ‘Our FoodSafe range are water-based coatings for ‘direct food contact’ packaging and, as such, environmental responsibility and consumer safety have always been a priority. However, achieving this latest certification is a clear demonstration of our resolute drive to put consumer safety and product quality first.’

The Material Health Certification uses a globally recognized methodology that assesses all raw materials within a product, and throughout its life cycle, identifying any potential health risks to humans or the environment.

In addition to compliance with strict evaluation criteria for all product components and ingredients, there are additional requirements to be mentioned. These include ensuring the product does not contain any ‘Banned List’ chemicals above the relevant thresholds and that the evaluated materials are free from carcinogens, mutagens, or reproductive toxicants. All requirements described in the ‘standard for emission testing of volatile organic compounds (VOC)’ must also be met.

Actega was awarded a gold level Material Health Certificate for more than 100 FoodSafe overprint varnishes several months prior to this latest accomplishment.

‘That was an important first step for Actega but only the start of our journey. Today, securing a gold level certification for the entire Foodsafe range is a landmark moment. We ultimately increase the benefits it provides our customers and further cement the part we play in supporting a more sustainable future for the packaging industry,’ concluded Lenz.