Edible Printing Technology of Food Packaging

This article proposes a new concept of edible food printing. The relevant elements of printing are studied from the perspective of natural harmlessness. Focus on the analysis of printing ink and printing materials edible process and methods, the natural plant or food as the core elements of printing for research and application, and introduced the application of the technology. Edible printing technology for food has a very different distinction from generalized printing technology, and its research has extensive significance.

Edible printing technology for food means that the core of printing is edible, and the printing process is also harmless to the human body. In other words, the edible food printing technology is a general term for printing that is accomplished by the core elements of edible printing and technical processes and printing equipment that are harmless to the human body. The core elements of printing refer to printing oil and printing materials. Printing equipment refers to printing machinery and equipment and its auxiliary devices. The printing technology process mainly refers to the printing method.

Edible printing technology for food is of great significance. Edible parts are "printing ink" and printing materials. This is a small, modern society with a strong, human-centered nature. Any activity is carried out around environmental protection and human health. It protects the human ecological environment and human health. The edible food printing technology is a new technology that promotes people's physical and mental health and has no negative effects on people and the environment.

As a printing and packaging technology. People have been looking for green materials and green packaging, especially for food packaging and food packaging printing. However, in the past or existing printing technology, there are different degrees of negative effects from ink to printing-related materials. For example, solvents and pigments in inks are mostly chemically synthesized materials or high-grade compounds, as well as other additives. Some packaging materials or printing materials also have various chemical components and additives. These ingredients or additives are inedible or even excessive. Excessive. The "ink" and printing materials (or packaging materials) in edible food printing are harmless to the human body and completely edible, which solves the long-standing problems that plagued the printing industry.

The research of edible food printing technology mainly includes four aspects: printing ink, printing materials, printing methods (kinds), and printing equipment.

Printing ink

Here, the printing oil storm refers to the main body of printing material pattern or text printing, including solvents and pigments, mainly obtained from plants or agricultural products and animals. Specifically, natural liquids or fruit juices are obtained by pressing raw plants and fresh fruits and vegetables. The "ink" pigments are mainly animal and plant pigments. Common animal and plant pigments are listed in Table 1.

The fluid in plants and animals itself is a kind of natural color juice, which can be directly used as the “ink” in food edible printing, such as the juice in animal blood or wild blood fruit. Obtain juice or liquid from animals and plants, use mechanical output (such as blood sampling), mechanical squeezing, and extraction methods.

In addition, edible “printing ink” solvents can also use various edible liquids such as honey or sugar juice.

Printing materials

Printing materials are equivalent to modern printing paper, plastic, etc., and edible printing materials for foods should also be edible, that is, replace the paper with edible materials. When printing, its printing patterns can be used. Eat together with food.

There are two main categories of printing materials: food itself and food packaging materials.

As the food itself, it serves as a printing material, which is a kind of solid food that has a certain size and can be printed on the surface, such as cakes, breads, and various types of cakes.

The printing materials in packaging materials are those materials with certain strength and printability, such as edible papers, edible films, and the like. This printed material is currently the most studied material. Mainly for the packaging or decorative food just, also known as edible packaging printing materials.

Edible packaging printing materials should have the main performance of general printing materials. In addition, its greatest feature is edible.å·³ There are many kinds of edible printing materials that have been applied or are being studied. The main types are shown in Table 2.

Edible printing materials should generally have affinity with edible “printing oil storms,” otherwise it would be difficult to print the images to be printed. However, no matter how it is processed, the strength and water resistance of the edible printing materials are not always as good as those of the existing printing materials. This is also a problem that needs to be solved and further studied.

Printing method (type) and printing equipment

There are many printing methods in modern printing technology, such as offset printing, letterpress printing, gravure printing, silk screen printing, and inkjet printing. However, for edible food printing technology, due to the limitations of the characteristics of “printing ink” and printing materials, many printing methods cannot be applied, and only silk screen printing and inkjet printing can be used. In particular, inkjet printing is the most desirable edible food printing method.

Ink-jet printing for edible foods is the use of existing inkjet printers to spray edible "printed ink" onto a food or substrate in a defined pattern and path. However, due to the poor rheology of edible “printing inks” and the large particle size, inkjet printers need to be improved accordingly. The key components for improvement are the nozzle and spray chamber. Flow its volume and throughput.