Abstract:

An effective method was established for the simultaneous determination of the specific migration amounts of light stabilizers and antioxidants in plastic materials in contact with foodstuffs using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography/orbitrap high resolution mass spectrometry (UPLC/Orbitrap HRMS). Plastic materials in contact with foodstuffs were treated by five food simulants:30 g/L acetic acid, 10% (v/v) ethanol, 20% (v/v) ethanol, 50% (v/v) ethanol and fatty food simulant (isooctane). The treated solution was analyzed by UPLC/Orbitrap HRMS. The concentrations of each analyte were calculated by the external standard method. The proposed method showed good linearities with the correlation coefficients above 0.998 for all the 40 target compounds. The limits of quantification (LOQs) varied from 0.01 to 1.00 μg/L for the 40 target compounds. The five food simulants mentioned above were investigated. The average spiked recoveries varied from 81.46% to 94.53% while the relative standard deviations (RSDs) varied from 3.25% to 9.99%. The proposed method was applied to determine the specific migration levels in different simulants of light stabilizers and antioxidants in plastic materials in contact with foodstuffs commercially available. Light stabilizers and antioxidants at various content levels were detected in some samples. The proposed method is sensitive and can meet the requirements of the specific migration limits (SML) of light stabilizers and antioxidants in plastic materials in contact with foodstuffs.

Key words: antioxidants, food simulants, light stabilizers, plastic materials in contact with foodstuffs, specific migration amounts, ultra-high performance liquid chromatography/orbitrap high resolution mass spectrometry (UPLC/Orbitrap HRMS)