Ink Type
Food Safe Inks
Kao manufactures numerous inkjet inks for primary and secondary food packaging, formulated to reduce ink migration and interactions with substrate materials, production processes, environmental conditions, and consumer use.
Meeting the Highest Safety Standards
Food packaging must meet stringent government regulations and brand requirements to ensure consumer safety. Kao works with you to identify and formulate the best inks for your food, beverage, or pharmaceutical packaging. We urge you to evaluate inks and packaging using third-party testing.
Food Grade Inkjet Inks
We offer numerous food-packaging inks for the major thermal inkjet (TIJ), piezo, and continuous inkjet (CIJ) digital printing technologies. Your packaging substrate(s) and printing technology will determine the specific inks to evaluate.
Water-based Food Packaging Inks
Our aqueous dye and pigment formulations reduce the environmental impact of printing on food packaging. Safe and cost-effective, these eco-conscious inks produce high-quality results on porous substrates and some non-porous materials.
- Extremely low VOCs
- Cost-effective
- Easy cleanup
- Easy of use
- Compatibility with many printers
LUNAJET – Nanodispersion Water-based Pigment Ink
We designed our low-migration water-based LUNAJET for digital printing on non-porous food packaging materials. The patented eco-friendly nanodispersion ink supports the growing use of flexible packaging, thin films, and shrink sleeves.
- Extremely low VOCs
- Vibrant color
- No solvents or photoinitiators
- High durability
- Requires less ink coverage
Low-Migration UV-LED Curable
Kao formulates UV-LED curable inks for food packaging where ink migration or odours may be of more significant concern. These inks incorporate photoinitiators that offer efficient and complete curing while producing high-quality and durable results on a wide range of substrates.
- Low heat
- Flexible
- No VOCs
- Adheres to many non-porous substrates
- Wide color gamut (CMYK+)
- Rapid curing
- High color consistency
Request Low-Migration UV-LED Curable Ink
Electron Beam Curable (EB) Inks
Non-hazardous EB inks cure without photoinitiators required in UV and LED curable inks. The no-heat curing makes EB-curable inks a profitable, practical, and safe alternative for printing flexible substrates and thin films.
- No heat generated
- Flexible
- No VOCs
- No photoinitiators
- Rapid curing
- Low energy consumption
Request Electron Beam Curable Ink
Bio-Based Mineral-Oil-Free Inks (MOF)
We engineered our mineral-oil-free ink for piezo technology as a direct replacement for petroleum-based inks for marking and coding secondary food packaging. MOF inks reduce the carbon footprint of digital printing, helping companies meet European standards.
- Prints high-quality bar-codes
- Compostable
- Deep color and opacity
- Single-pass applications
- Suitable for food and pharmaceutical products
- Class 3 rating from TÜV Austria on bio-based composition