Know Your "Maggi"

Maggi has been one of our favorite eatery for generations, liked equally by kids and grandparents! Recently the UP FDA tests and Delhi tests  on the samples taken from shelve has shown presence of MSG which Maggi claims is not added and Lead above permissible limits. This might cause lot of health concerns in the consumers. Maggi has been part of diet from childhood for many, and all of us have lots of wonderful memories associated with Maggi parties! The current reports send a chill down our spine and force us to think. As still the testing and probing is going on in case of Maggi and we don’t know the outcome, but to think that how prepared are we as packaging technologists to handle such concerns? These concerns are mainly in the area of extractable & leachable and migration. May be in this case packaging is not the reason for leaching or migration of lead, but there are areas where extractable & leachable and migration tests and data becomes really important in packaging as well. For eg. in case of Pharmaceuticals which again like food is a health related product, lot of Pharma and healthcare companies face concerns on Extractable & Leachable and migration and taking needed steps and measures as well. One such example is in case of leaching or migration through labels on Pharma bottles to the product. These may be hazardous components and stopping such migration becomes critical for patient safety. One such solution for leaching/migration is low migration labels by Schreiner Medipharm, Germany. A specialist in functional labels Schreiner has developed one of the kind Low migration labels. To ensure that harmless materials are used for each particular label design, Schreiner MediPharm conducted a study with a renowned, independent test institute to analyze, calculate, and evaluate the migration tendency of various label compositions. The results make it possible to specifically develop low migration label solutions for each application, without any major expenditure of time or investment by the pharmaceutical manufacturer. Furthermore, the use of verifiable harmless low migration labels increases the probability of a smooth approval from the respective drug administration authorities and ideally the approval process can be shortened. Read more on Low migration label click the link http://www.packagingconnections.com/press-release/increase-medicine-safety-low-migration-labels.htm We as packaging professionals need to strive more to bring healthier packaging innovations on to the table which benefits both the companies and the consumers. Author - Amita Venkatesh Associate - Scientific Affairs & Consultancy amita.venkatesh@packagingconnections.com