Migration of silver from nanosilver–polyethylene composite packaging into food simulants

Abstract

An analytical method for the determination of silver in food simulants (3% (w/v) aqueous acetic acid or 95% (v/v) aqueous ethanol) was developed based on inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Recoveries ranged from 87% to 109% and RSDs ranged from 0.7% to 7.8%. The procedure was applied to determine the migration of silver from nanosilver–polyethylene food packaging film into food simulants at different temperatures and migration times. Results indicated that the maximum migration ratios were 1.70%, 3.00% and 5.60% for 3% (w/v) aqueous acetic acid at 20, 40 and 70°C, respectively, while for 95% (v/v) aqueous ethanol the maximum migration ratios were 0.24%, 0.23% and 0.22% at 20, 40 and 70°C.

Keywords:

• metals analysis – ICP/MS
• packaging additives
• metals
• migration
• food simulants

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Colleges and Universities Research Project of Shanxi Province (Grant Number 2010102) and the Research Project of China's General Administration for Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) (Grant Number 2010IK160).