JUNE 21--Sherwood Technology (Widnes, Cheshire, UK), a color-change specialist, has been granted a European patent for its method of laser-marking edible products using its color-change technology DataLase Edible. This novel coding, marking, and printing technique is designed to apply a safe and high-contrast image onto edible pharmaceutical and food products such as tablets, fruits, and confectionery. A few months ago, Sherwood was also awarded a US patent for this unique additive.
Previously, the most common method of marking tablets or hard-shell confectionery products required a mechanical embossing or surface printing method, both of which result in a significant number of rejects due to damaged/cracked product. Noncontact printing methods such as inkjet are largely unsuitable, due to the spread of the ink droplets and slow drying of the ink. There are also wide ranges of associated problems, such as maintenance and production line downtime, in addition to issues associated with maintaining printing apparatus and replacing consumables. When dealing with sensitive products such as fresh produce, these problems are particularly undesirable. Sherwood's development is set to meet the challenges associated with the marking process of edible products.
DataLase Edible is a nontoxic and environmentally friendly coating or additive that uses low-power CO2 lasers to produce a positive image. The coating undergoes a safe color-change process, creating a high contrast, stable image that is produced from 100% edible components.
Being able to mark a wide range of pharmaceutical and food products, this method leads to considerable cost savings while increasing productivity. The main benefits are
* Environmental - no production line consumables or high energy consuming labellers
* Productivity - faster line speeds, lower costs, and less wastage (defective product)
* Applicability - compatibility with most pharmaceutical tablets / capsules; hard shelled confectionery.
* Quality - high fidelity image resolution and marking
More information about Sherwood Technology is available at www.sherwoodtech.com or by e-mail: [email protected]>.
