According to BRC-IOP what shall Print Control consist of?

According to BRC-IOP what shall the print control consist of?

With Issue 4 of the BRC/IoP Standard, they finally recognised that the majority of packaging is printed in some way and there needed to be some controls in place. The print will often have text which gives consumer safety and legality information such as storage temperatures, allergen advice etc.

As you read through the Standard, print is mentioned quite a few times.

The first is within Hazard Analysis. There are very few ways that packaging can kill consumers, but missing, incorrect or illegible texts relating to consumer safety information could in some circumstances. Therefore your hazard analysis must evaluate any risks that may be relevant in your operation.

It also comes up in Product Development where it talks about artwork approval procedures.

The biggest section is 5.2. This section is really the formalising of the controls which should come out of your hazard analysis. The clauses are fairly self explanatory but here are a few points which may cause problems.

Printing plates etc - it is vital to be certain that you are printing the correct design. Therefore, all of the plates, media etc must be traceable to the approved artwork. Things that an auditor will look for are reference numbers on plates, version control of plates if changes are made, plate destruction logs etc. The plates must be stored in a way that they do not become damaged and that the correct version is taken out to use. Commonly this is by drawers, racks, job bags.

When you start to print you must have a reference to work against, either an approved sample, pdf print etc so that you know that you printing the correct design. After make ready there needs to be a recorded confirmation that the design matched the reference. As the job continues, it needs to be checked, either by an online vision system or periodic manual checks against the reference, with the focus being on the text or other consumer safety information. If a problem is found it needs to be identified, normally by flagging markers through a reel or stack so that the defects can be sorted at the next production stage if it is not possible at the time of print. Again the checks must be recorded.

If you are printing composite designs to use materials cost effectively, then there must be a way of ensuring that the different designs are fed into specific streams to prevent mixing.

Samples must be retained as required by any customers.

The staff carrying out the print checks must be trained so that they understand the risks from poor printed text and not just matching colours and there needs to be some type of standardised lighting so that the checks can be made consistently.

Obviously there will be variations on the above depending upon your products and processes, but I hope it helps. If there is anything more specific, post again.

A very enlightening answer, Member.
Thanks and more power to you.