Siegwerk India Sees BIS Move to ban Toluene a Step in the Right Direction

Toluene, a chemical used in food packaging, is known to be harmful to humans and hence the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has imposed a ban on this. This is where Siegwerk India, a leading global printing ink manufacturer for packaging, labels, and catalogues, welcomes the ban and considers this a step taken in the right direction to ensure food safety in India. “The company has been a 100% Toluene Free (TF) ink manufacturing facility since late 2017 and we are supplying safe packaging inks to our customers. Many MNCs including Nestle have also decided to move to Toluene Free inks a while ago, following their global guidelines and considering the health hazards involved with the solvent,” said Vinay Bhardwaj, vice president, Flexibles and Tobacco, Siegwerk India. “We have been representing this cause to the authorities and happy to note the decision to ban hazardous chemicals that contaminate food. India joins the list of countries that have already banned toluene,” stated Bhardwaj, while speaking to FnB News.