Types of paper and board fed into the recycling process to manufacture paperboard for food packaging were analysed for saturated and aromatic mineral oil hydrocarbons. The focus was on the hydrocarbons eluted from gas chromatography before n-C 24 , as these are relevant for migration into dry foods via the gas phase at ambient temperature. Newspapers and leafl ets printed by similar techniques were identifi ed as the predominant sources of mineral oil, whereas offi ce paper, books and corrugated board were the starting materials of lowest mineral oil content. Paperboard produced from the latter sources would contain about fi ve times less mineral oil than the average observed today, but the migration into food could still exceed the limit derived from the available acceptable daily intake by a factor of up to 20. On average, European newspapers produced by offset printing contained 4.1 g/kg

A spectrophotometric method was developed for the determination of saponin in Yucca extract or its preparation for food additive use. A saponin fraction of Yucca extract was prepared by column chromatography with porous polymer, and hydrolyzed with a 2 mol/L mixture of hydrochloric acid–ethanol (1 + 1) to generate sapogenin. Sapogenin amounts were determined by measuring absorbance at 430 nm, based on the color reactions with anisaldehyde, sulfuric acid, and ethyl acetate. Recoveries from Yucca extracts were 91.5–95.1%, and the detection limit was 10 mg/kg. Commercial Yucca extracts for food additive use were composed of 5.6–6.4% (w/w) saponin, making it a minor component.

Amounts of isothiocyanates and related compounds in a mustard extract and a horseradish extract for food additive use were determined by GC, after confirmation of the identity of GC peaks by GC/MS. Amounts of allyl isothiocyanate, which included that of allyl thiocyanate, because most of the allyl thiocyanate detected in the sample was assumed to have been formed from allyl isothiocyanate during GC analysis, were 97.6 and 85.4, in the mustard extract and the horseradish extract, respectively. Total amounts of the identified isothiocyanates in the mustard extract and the horseradish extract were 98.5 and 95.4, respectively. Allyl cyanide, a degradation product of allyl isothiocyanate, was found in the mustard extract and the horseradish extract at the levels of 0.57 and 1.73, respectively. b-Phenylethyl cyanide, a possible degradation product of b-phenylethyl isothiocyanate, and allyl sulfides were found in the horseradish extract, at the levels of 0.13 and 0.46, respectively. Allylamine, which is another degradation product of allyl isothiocyanate, was determined after acetylation, and was found in the mustard extract and the horseradish extract at the levels of 8 mg/g and 67 mg/g, respectively.

A fast and effective cleanup method was developed for the analysis of Sudan I, II, III, IV, and Para Red (Sudan dyes) in various foods and paprika color (oleoresin) by high-performance liquid chromatography (LC) with a diode array detector (DAD). Removal of fat or oil in fatty sample was a critical point for reducing the volume of the final sample solution in order to obtain a sufficient level of the analytes. Separation of fat or oil from the dyes with a silica gel solid-phase extraction (SPE) column seemed unfeasible, because elution profiles of oil, fat, and the dyes were similar. Finally, fat and oil were separated from the dyes by elution from the SPE column with n-hexane, not as intact compounds but as fatty acid methyl esters prepared by direct transesterification of acylglycerols in fat and oil, leaving the dyes on the column. The dyes were eluted with n-hexanediethyl ether (9 + 1). Gradient elution with water and tetrahydrofuran was used for separation on a C18 column by LC. Measurement of spectral of μ0.5 g/g of Sudan dyes in foods and 1 μg/g in paprika color (oleoresin) with the DAD was achieved.

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