ASTM F1886/F1886M-25 has just been released, and DDL is here to keep you informed about the updates.

When it comes to visual inspection, ASTM F1886 is the preferred standard, providing clear guidance for evaluating seal integrity in transparent flexible packages. The standard is also widely used for conducting general visual inspections on criteria beyond seal integrity—such as tears, pinholes, and other visible defects.

Because of its broad utilization and some limited guidance on aspects beyond seal integrity, the new revision now expands visual inspection to encompass not only the seal area but the entire package. The standard now consists of two parts:

• Part I – Inspection of Seals: Covers the detection of channels in the package seal. This section remains fundamentally unchanged from previous version, including its precision and bias information and interlaboratory study (ILS) data.
• Part II – Inspection of Materials/Surfaces: Addresses the identification of suspected integrity defects in primary packaging materials. It includes instructions and detailed photographic examples of common package defects to assist users. Precision and bias data, as well as the ILS study for this section, are still in progress.

We recommend that users obtain a copy of ASTM F1886/F1886M-25 for thorough review. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us—our team is happy to help.