Migration of mineral hydrocarbons into foods. 1. Polystyrene containers for hot and cold beverages

Abstract

Mineral hydrocarbons are used as processing aids at levels between 0.3 and 3% by weight in crystal polystyrene articles, the food contact uses of which include the dispensing of hot and cold beverages from automatic machines as well as in 'fast-food' and catering establishments. The levels of migration of mineral hydrocarbons from polystyrene cups and glasses have been measured into aqueous food simulants as well as lager, beer, cola, sparkling apple juice, lemon barley water, coffee, hot chocolate, tea, lemon tea and chicken soup. For the cold beverages and simulants, no migration above 0.1 mg/kg was observed, and for the hot beverages and simulants no result greater than 0.5 mg/kg. Analysis was by capillary gas chromatography, using hydrocarbon internal standards calibrated against mineral hydrocarbon reference standards.

Scientific Opinion on Mineral Oil Hydrocarbons in Food

“…internal lubricants) for use in plastics for food contact according to Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 8 (see Section 4.1). Castle et al (1991) investigated the migration from polystyrene and acrylonitrile/butadiene/styrene (ABS) containers containing up to 7-8 % mineral oil into aqueous simulants and various beverages. Migration was found to be below 0.5 mg/kg even for hot beverages which can be attributed to the limited solubility of MOH in aqueous foods and the low diffusion out of the ABS polymer.…”

A versatile splitless injection GC-FID method for the determination of mineral oil paraffins in vegetable oils and dried fruit

“…Many cases of mineral oil contamination in food are reported in literature, regarding edible oils (Fiorini et al, 2008;Grob, Biedermann, & Bronz, 1994;Wagner et al, 2001), bakery products , packaged foods (Castle, Kelly, & Gilbert, 1991;Grob, Huber, Boderius, & Bronz, 1997;Jickells, Nichol, & Castle, 1994a, 1994b, etc. The sources of this contamination are many, due to the wide range of applications of this petroleum derivative in many fields, as packaging additives, lubricants, cosmetics additives, pesticides, etc.…”

“…On the other hand, a classical approach to this kind of analysis, could be the saponification of the lipid fraction of the sample, as reported in some applications (Bories & Tulliez, 1977;Petrón, Tejeda, Muriel, Ventanas, & Antequera, 2005); but the procedure is tedious, time and solvents consuming, and increases the possibility to have accidental contamination during the analysis. Castle et al studied the migration of mineral hydrocarbon from food contact materials (FCM) into foods (Castle, Kelly, & Gilbert, 1992Castle, Nichol, & Gilbert, 1993;Castle et al, 1991;Jickells et al, 1994aJickells et al, , 1994b by applying a method to both FCM and food samples, foreseeing extraction, saponification for fatty foods and for sunflower oil (Castle et al, 1992Jickells et al, 1994a) and a final clean-up on silica gel before the gas-chromatographic analysis. For the clean-up of the sample, which is needed also if the saponification is accomplished, various procedures have been proposed.…”

Occurrence of C15-C45mineral paraffins in olives and olive oils

“…These may be release agents, as used, for example, for manufacturing and handling dough or bonbons (Grob et al 1991a), ingredients of printing inks (Droz and Grob 1997), other components of packaging materials, e.g. of jute bags (Grob et al 1991b), wax papers (cheese, salami, bonbon and honey) (Grob et al 1991c, Castle et al 1993a, b, 1994, cans for food and beverages (Castle et al 1991, Jickells et al 1994a, or other food contact materials (Jickells et al 1994b).…”