Analytical screening studies on irradiated food packaging

Abstract

Foods may be irradiated in their final packaging and this process may affect the composition of the packaging and in turn affect the migration of substances into food. Headspace and liquid injection GC-MS and HPLC with time-of-flight MS have been used to identify and estimate levels of radiolytic products in irradiated finished plastic packaging materials. Fifteen retail packaging materials were studied. Investigations were carried out into the effect of different irradiation types (gamma and electron beam), irradiation doses (1, 3, 7 and 10 kGy) and dose rates (5 kGy s^–1 for electron beam and 0.4 and 1.85 kGy h^–1 for gamma) on the radiolytic products. Any differences seen in comparing the two ionising radiation types were attributed largely to the very different dose rates; for electron beam a 10 kGy dose was delivered in just 2 s whereas using gamma it took 5.4 h. Differences were also seen when comparing the same samples irradiated at different doses. Some substances were not affected by irradiation, others decreased in concentration and others were formed upon increasing doses of irradiation. These results confirm that irradiation-induced changes do occur in substances with the potential to migrate and that the safety of the finished packaging material following irradiation should be assessed.

Keywords:

• irradiation
• screening
• GC-MS
• LC-TOF-MS
• food packaging
• radiolytic products
• NIAS

Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge support from the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) for funding the work (Project A03068). The statements and conclusions are the responsibility of the authors alone and should not be taken to represent the views or the policy of the FSA.