Migration analysis of epoxidized soybean oil and other plasticizers in commercial lids for food packaging by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

Abstract

A modification of the method of Castle et al. (J. Chromatogr. 1988: 437:274–280) for the analysis of epoxidized soybean oil (ESBO) is proposed to simplify the analysis and reduce the time and consumption of reagents. The proposed modifications, particularly the elimination of the internal standard, resulted in a simpler, faster and more economical method. A complete analytical validation, including evaluation of the main analytical parameters, such as detection and quantification limits, linearity, working range, precision, accuracy and selectivity, was carried out. The data demonstrated the suitability of the proposed method for the determination of ESBO in polymer matrices. A specific migration study for ESBO in different food simulants (fat and aqueous) was carried out by applying the method to poly(vinyl chloride) materials prepared with known amounts of ESBO, as well as some commercial lids. High levels of migration of ESBO into fat simulants were found. In the case of commercial lids, in addition to ESBO, some other plasticizers such as citrates, adipates and sebacates were found and quantified to establish their migration under different conditions of use.

Keywords:

• chromatography
• GC/MS
• method validation
• packaging
• ESBO
• packaging plasticizers
• food contact materials
• migration
• baby food
• oils and fats
• vegetables

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Traquisa S.A. (Barcelona, Spain) for kindly supplying ESBO; and also Institute Juan Gil Albert (Diputación de Alicante, Spain) and University of Alicante (SICyT UAUSTI09-05) for financial support.