Simultaneous Determination and Exposure Assessment of Antioxidants in Food-Contact Plastic Materials by HPLC-MS/MS

Abstract

Antioxidants are widely used to prevent oxidative degradation of food-contact plastics materials. However, when plastic products come into contact with food, antioxidants may contaminate food. Herein, twenty-three kinds of possible antioxidants were monitored in 257 products of seven polymers. The migration of antioxidants into the food simulants at different temperatures and times was detected by using HPLC-MS/MS. Risk assessment was performed based on the EU, U.S. FDA methods and Monte Carlo simulation. The antioxidants migrated mainly to fatty food simulant, with the highest concentration and occurrence frequency of Irgafos 168, followed by Irganox 1010, Irganox 1076, and Antioxidant LTDP in polyethylene terephthalate, polyvinyl chloride, polypropylene, polyethylene. No antioxidants were detected in polystyrene, polycarbonate, and polyvinylidene chloride. Additionally, antioxidants exhibited the highest detection rate of 0.81 in polyethylene. Risk assessment demonstrated that the antioxidants have no obvious health risk to the exposed population. However, the risk of polypropylene was relatively high compared to other polymers.

Keywords

• Antioxidants
• Exposure assessment
• Food-contact plastic materials
• HPLC-MS/MS
• Indirect additives
• Migration