Analysis of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in raw materials intended for the production of paper-based food contact materials – evaluating LC-MS/MS versus total fluorine and extractable organic fluorine

Figures & data

Table 1. Overview of levels of PFAS reported in water, food and food packaging materials, obtained via targeted analysis.

Matrices	Source	Concentration	Most detected species	References
Water	Drinking water	<20 ng L^-1	PFBS, PFHxS, PFOS, PFHxA, PFOA, PFHpA GenX	(Appleman et al. 2014)
				(Crone et al. 2019)
				(Domingo and Nadal 2019)
	Meat products	<0.35 ng g^-1	PFOS, PFOA, PFDoDA	(Gebbink et al. 2015)
Food	Wild boar organs	<500 ng g^-1	PFNA, PFOA, PFOS	(Schröder et al. 2024)
	Fish	<60 ng g^-1	PFOS, PFDoDA PFDA, PFUnDA	(Berger et al. 2009; Valsecchi et al. 2021)
	Milk and milk products	<10 ng g^-1	PFBA, PFOA	(Sznajder-Katarzyńska et al. 2019)
	Different vegetables	<0.1 ng g^-1	PFOA, PFOS	(Herzke et al. 2013)
Food packaging materials	Microwave popcorn bags	<500 ng g^-1	PFOA, PFHxA, PFBA, PFDA, 8:2diPAP	(Gebbink et al. 2013; Zabaleta et al. 2017, 2020)
	Pizza boxes, muffin cups, coated paper	<40 ng g^-1	PFHpA, PFOS, PFDA, FTOH	(Moreta and Tena 2013; Granby and Tesdal Håland 2018; Sapozhnikova et al. 2023)
	French fries, popcorn and sandwich wrappers	0.2–48 ng g^-1	PFOA, PFHxS, PFHpA, PFHpS, PFOS, PFOSA, N-EtFOSA	(Nxumalo et al. 2023)
	Fast food wrappers	<90–40 ng g^-1	PFDA, PFDoA, PFHxA	(Zafeiraki et al. 2014)

Table 2. Comparison of total fluorine content, extractable organic fluorine and results of targeted analysis expressed as the sum of all detected PFAS (∑PFAS [ng g^-1]), and calculated for fluorine ([ng F g^-1]).

	Sample type	Total fluorine analysis [ng F g^-1]	EOF [ng F g^-1]	Targeted analysis ∑PFAS [ng g^-1]	Targeted analysis [ng F g^-1]
Sample 1	Virgin fibre paper	119 × 10^3	<LOD^a	<LOD^b	<LOD
Sample 2	Virgin fibre paper	31 × 10^3	<LOD	<LOD	<LOD
Sample 3	Fresh fibre pulp	56 × 10^3	<LOD	<LOD	<LOD
Sample 4	Fresh fibre pulp	9 × 10^3	<LOD	<LOD	<LOD
Sample 5	Virgin fibre paper	63 × 10^3	<LOD	<LOD	<LOD
Sample 6	Virgin fibre paper	131 × 10^3	<LOD	<LOD	<LOD
Sample 7	Fresh fibre pulp	31 × 10^3	<LOD	<LOD	<LOD
Sample 8	Virgin fibre paper	39 × 10^3	<LOD	<LOD	<LOD
Sample 9	Secondary paper	29 × 10^3	<LOD	0.08	0.05
Sample 10	Virgin fibre paper	47 × 10^3	<LOD	<LOD	<LOD
Sample 11	Virgin fibre paper	46 × 10^3	<LOD	<LOD	<LOD
Sample 12	Virgin fibre paper	18 × 10^3	<LOD	<LOD	<LOD
Sample 13	Fresh fibre pulp	7 × 10^3	<LOD	<LOD	<LOD
Sample 14	Secondary paper	36 × 10^3	<LOD	0.19	0.12
Sample 15	Secondary paper	57 × 10^3	<LOD	0.45	0.33
Sample 16	Virgin fibre paper	92 × 10^3	<LOD	<LOD	<LOD
Sample 17	Virgin paper	47 × 10^3	<LOD	<LOD	<LOD
Sample 18	Secondary pulp	63 × 10^3	<LOD	0.29	0.19
Sample 19	Secondary paper	66 × 10^3	<LOD	0.13	0.09
Sample_20	Secondary paper	84 × 10^3	<LOD	0.15	0.09

^a LOD (EOF) – 30 ng g^-1

^b LOD (targeted analysis) – see Table S3.

Figure 1. Composition of samples analysed via LC-MS/MS with the portion of samples in which PFAS were quantified.

Figure 2. Sums of individual PFAS concentrations detected in samples in which analytes were above LOQ.

Table 3. Calculated migration of PFAS based on targeted analysis results – assumption of 100% migration.

	Paper grammage [g m^-2]	PFAS quantified using LC-MS/MS[ng kg^-1]	Modelled concentration of PFAS in food [ng kg^-1]
Pap 1	186	480	5.40
Pap 2	125	50	0.40
Pap 3	170	130	1.32
Pap 4	160	120	1.11
Pap 5	135	180	1.48
Pap 6	135	80	0.61
Pap 7	135	130	1.03
Pap 8	125	50	0.39
Pap 9	170	80	0.85
Pap 10	100	110	0.66
Pap 11	125	30	0.24
Pap 12	135	40	0.32
Pap 13	135	220	1.76
Pap 14	186	300	3.30
Pap 15	135	80	0.61
Pap 16	120	30	0.19
Pap 17	170	480	4.93
Pap 18	135	190	1.50
Pap 19	90	80	0.43
Pap 20	130	130	1.04

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