Survey on the occurrence of photo-initiators and amine synergists in cartonboard packaging on the German market and their migration into the packaged foodstuffs

Abstract

In a surveillance study from 2008 to 2011, in total 310 food products, predominately packed in cartonboard, were collected from the German market. First, the packaging materials were analysed for their content of six photo-initiators and five amine synergists by high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection (HPLC-DAD). If high amounts of these substances were detected, subsequently the foodstuffs were analysed by means of HPLC-MS or tandem MS, respectively. Benzophenone (BP) was detected in 49% of the packaging materials and was thus the most often determined compound, followed by 4-methylbenzophenone (MBP, 8%), 1-hydroxy-cyclohexylphenylketone (HCHPK, 7%) and methyl-o-benzoylbenzoate (MOBB, 5%). In total, 99 foodstuffs were analysed and in 20 cases one or more photo-initiators and/or amine synergists were detected in quantities above the legally acceptable limits in food. This resulted in several notifications in the European Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF); the best known is MBP in breakfast cereals. Contamination of the foodstuff by the photo-initiators and/or amine synergists also occurred when it was in indirect contact with the printed packaging material and no adequate barrier material was used to prevent migration. The data also clearly demonstrate that polyethylene films are not suitable to inhibit migration. Storage of samples until the best before date showed that HCHPK, BP and MBP migrate very easily via the gas phase. In contrast, 4-phenylbenzophenone and 4,4'-bis(diethylamino)benzophenone migrated only very slowly or, respectively, not in quantifiable amounts into the foodstuffs. Differences in transfer rates for HCHPK, BP and MBP from several packagings into food and Tenax(®), respectively, lead to the assumption that both the food matrix as well as the extent of cross-linking of the printing ink during curing may have an influence on the level of migration.

Observation of Emerging Photoinitiator Additives in Household Environment and Sewage Sludge in China

“…Theoretically, the PIs in the UV curable resins, food contact materials and other products in households can migrate into indoor dust by evaporation and abrasion processes, since PIs are usually of low molecular weights and are not fully incorporated into the polymer network. 3 The present study demonstrated the occurrence of PIs in indoor dust, and plausible human exposure to PIs through dust ingestion. As illustrated in Figure 2 and Table S8, almost all the target PIs could be positively identified in the indoor dust samples, except for Irgacure 369 and 2-Cl-TX.…”

“…1 With regard to molecular structures, the most frequently used PIs can be categorized as benzophenones (BZPs), thioxanthones (TXs), and amine co-initiators (ACIs). 2,3 These compounds are mainly applied in light sensitive materials such as ultraviolet (UV) curable ink, coating and adhesive, which are employed in a variety of applications including printing inks, overprint varnishes, primers, pigmented paints, clear topcoats, and bonding for abrasives, encapsulates and pressure sensitive adhesives. 4 The wide use of PI additives has triggered increasing awareness of their potential adverse effects on biota and humans.…”

Analytical Methods for Determining Photoinitiators in Food-Contact Materials

“…29 They used the first method to determine Irgacure 907 s , ITX and ethyl-4-(dimethylamino)benzoate) (EDB) in yoghurt samples. The extraction procedure was the same as described by Rothenbacher et al, 14 with slight differences to improve extraction.…”

“…29 The method used to extract these photoinitiators from the FCM was that proposed by Pastorelli et al 16 Chromatographic separation was achieved with a reversed-phase C18 column (Purospher s Star RP 18e: i.d., 250 mmÂ4 mm and particle size, 5 mm) and a mobile phase composed by water and acetonitrile, in gradient mode. This method yielded good resolution, but the time required for the analysis was 70 min.…”

“…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.…”