Hello,
I've been lurking here for quite a bit and there seems to be a lot of knowledgeable people here. So I hope I can get some advice.
I just started working at a company that prints and laminates flexible packaging. From what I can tell packaging companies usually don't have any CCP's. Well this company has 3, but I have doubts if these should be considered as CCP's.
The first CCP is regarding ink when not dried enough will offset to the food contact side. Because ink is not food grade this would be considered a food safety risk. The operator checks the temperature of the dryer with every rol to see if it equals the temperature that was set before the start of the order. There are no agreed values as to what temperature the dryer should be set on. This is completely dependent on the experience of the operator, the order and the speed`of the machine. There's also visual checks on the packaging itself to check for any printing errors, but no specific check for the dryness of the ink. As far as I know with a CCP the product should be measurable with specific tressholds.
The other CCP's are regarding laminating. One is about the hardening of the adhesive. Carcinogens can be created by poor hardening conditions. This is controlled by temperature and time. The temperature of the environment is measured and products cannot be further processed until enough time has passed. The other one is about the mixing ratio of the adhesive and the hardener. If this is incorrect it could lead to carcinogenics during hardening in the end product which might in turn migrate to foodstuffs. In this case there are specific values to check if the mixing ratio is sufficient.
I would like to hear your opinions on these CCP's and if possible advice.