Although packaging plays a central role in food preservation and microbial safety, concern has been expressed surrounding chemical food safety, especially from packaging. While reaction, migration, and loss of compounds between food and packaging occurs often and to a small degree, the magnitude and type of these chemical interactions will dictate safety. Most modern food packaging and materials are chemically complex, layers of different polymers, adhesives, papers, foils, and invariably, prints. Innovations in print and packaging are continuous, and diverse and competitive markets spawn a multitude of niche and novel formulations and package configurations. As the concentration of a single package configuration or formulation gets diluted in this marketplace, the chemical diversity expands. Chemical characterization of modern food contact materials is an ongoing required task that provides data to inform safety concerns and fears.<br/>Forensic and survey analysis of foods and packaging has previously identified several unanticipated examples of this diversity. Examples include high transfer of epoxsidized vegetable oils from PVC gaskets, off-odor hydrocarbon contamination of waxes for bag-in-box liners (including methylnaphthalenes), perfluorinated phosphate ester grease-proofers used for unapproved microwave susceptors, flame retardants and waste electronics from contaminated recycled thermopolymers in reusable food containers, and numerous thioxanthone, morpholino, benzoyl and phosphine ink photoinitiators setting-off from finished packages to food surfaces of adjacent unfilled packages. Such chemical characterization relies upon robust and modern analytical techniques applied to numerous packages and formulations.<br/>In this work we utilized techniques such as non-targeted analysis, high resolution mass spectrometry, direct or surface mass spectrometry, and more traditional ultra high performance liquid chromatography and gas chromatography mass spectrometry analysis. These techniques (including migration tests) were used to: 1. Determine if direct mass spectrometry could identify food packaging additives and components; 2. Directly and quickly detect photoinitiator set-off on retail food packaging; 3 Identify as many ink and packaging related components as possible present on the food contact surfaces of food packaging; and 4. Determine the incidence of photoinitiators on the food contact surface of retail food packages.

Direct chemical characterization of retail food packaging & prints

254th National Meeting (2017)

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