Migration of mineral oil, photoinitiators and plasticisers from recycled paperboard into dry foods: a study under controlled conditions

Abstract

Migration from recycled paperboard was monitored after 2, 4 and 9 months of storage for six test foods industrially packed in five configurations, four with internal plastic films. After 9 months, the migration of mineral oil saturated hydrocarbons into foods directly packed in the paperboard amounted to 30-52 mg/kg, which corresponded to 65%-80% of those of a volatility up to that of the n-alkane C₂₄ in the paperboard. The concentration of the migrated aromatic hydrocarbons in the foods ranged from 5.5 to 9.4 mg/kg. More than half of this migration occurred in the first 2 months. Differences between the foods amounted to mostly less than a factor of 2 and seemed to be related to porosity or permeability more than fat content. Nine photoinitiators were detected in the paperboard, of which eight migrated into the packed food at up to 24%. Several plasticisers were present in the recycled paperboard, but only butyl phthalates showed significant migration. After 9 months, up to 40% of diisobutyl phthalate and 20% of dibutyl phthalate migrated into the food with direct contact. The internal polyethylene film hardly slowed migration, but the film and the tray absorbed approximately three times more mineral oil than the food, despite constituting merely 4% of the mass of the pack. Oriented polypropylene strongly slowed migration: The highest migration of saturated hydrocarbons measured after 9 months (2.3 mg/kg) corresponded to only 3% of the content in the paperboard and included migrated polyolefin oligomeric saturated hydrocarbons. Coating of polypropylene with an acrylate further slowed the migration, but the migration from the paperboard was still detectable in four of the six samples. Polyethylene terephthalate was a tight barrier.

The influence of resource strategies on childhood phthalate exposure—The role of REACH in a zero waste society

“…In this survey, no data was available regarding the percentage of food items packed in recycled material. However, compared to the phthalate concentrations of food packed in recycled material from Germany and Hungary (Biedermann et al, 2013;Gärtner et al, 2009;Keresztes et al, 2013), the level of phthalates in the same food items in Fierens et al (2012) is generally lower than that packaged in recycled material. The latter verifies the hypothesis of increased levels of phthalates in food items packed in recycled packaging materials; exemplified by the food items of cereal products, milk powder and beverages in this case study.…”

Analytical Methods for Determining Photoinitiators in Food-Contact Materials

“…12,14,16,[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39] The sum of these methods determines a total of 20 different photoinitiators of different kinds (cationic, type I, type II and even amine synergists). The analytical methods can be classified into two main groups depending on the detector used: diode array or fluorescence detectors, and mass spectrometry.…”

“…39 The QuEChERS method was used to extract the photoinitiators from foodstuffs, and the packages were extracted with acetonitrile. The method yielded a LOD ¼ 0.15 mg kg À1 .…”

Machine-coated starch-based dispersion coatings prevent mineral oil migration from paperboard

“…tion of mineral oil. Recycled fiber materials often contain residue of adhesives or printing inks used in the packaging processes and so induce the risk that migration of these compounds to the food product may occur [9][10][11][12][13][14]. Therefore, fiber-based food packaging, especially primary packaging, is often restricted to virgin fibers or small amounts of recycled fibers.…”