Migration Of Harmful Substances From Paper Food Packages: Experimental Studies And Model Application

Contaminants migrated from packaging materials into food is a big issue in food safety and quality,as it may pose a threat for consumers.It is highly required to investigate the migration behavior and the mathematic model to predict the migration amount.This paper studied the migration of photoinitiators,ultraviolet absorbers and biocides from different kinds of paper package to different kinds of food stimulant,to test the factors influencing migration.And mathematical models based on Fick's second law were applied to predict the migration amount.The main conclusions were summarized as follows.Migration of photoinitiators from paper to fatty food simulants: The migration of five different photoinitiators from kraft paper to two fatty food simulants,Tenax and 95% ethanol,was investigated under different conditions.The effects of temperature and storage time,as well as the physicochemical properties of the photoinitiators on migration,were discussed.Mathematical models based on Fick's second law generated from two cases,single-and two-side contacts,were applied to predict the migration behavior from the paper to the food simulants.The partition coefficients estimated from the model decreased with temperature.The diffusion coefficients of the selected photoinitiators from the paper ranged from 1.55×10-10 to 7.54×10-9 cm2 s-1 for Tenax and from 2.79×10-9 to 8.03×10-8 cm2 s-1 for 95% ethanol.The results indicate that the applied model can predict the migration of photoinitiators in the initial short period before equilibrium,and the migration from paper to Tenax through a single-side contact demonstrated an especially high concordance.Migration of ultraviolet absorbers from food packaging paper into solid and liquid simulants:The migration of four kinds of ultraviolet absorbers(UV-327,UV-P,UV-9 and UV-531)from kraft paper to solid food simulants was investigated at 50,75 and 100 oC.Effects of temperature as well as physicochemical properties of the ultraviolet absorbers on migration were discussed.Temperature played a key role in the migration process.The migration rate and final migration amount increased with temperature.Smaller molecular weight,lower values of log Po/w and boiling points of migrants had a positive impact on the migration.The mathematic model based on Fick's second law was built and applied to predict the migration amount of UV-P from paper into solid simulants at 70 °C.The results showed the applied mathematics model could predict the migration amount very well in the initial period before equilibrium.At the same time,ultraviolet absorbers migration from different kinds of food packaging paper to four kinds of liquid simulant were investigated.Migration of biocides from food packaging paper into solid and liquid simulants:Biocides are components widely used in pulp and paper industries to inhibit the growth of bacteria and mildew.The migration of three biocides(2,4,6-TCP,OIT,BIT)through paper packaging into two kinds of food simulant(Tenax and distilled water,3% acetic acid in aqueous solution,10 and 95% ethanol in aqueous solution)under different conditions were investigated.Effects of temperature,kinds of food simulant,kinds of different food packaging paper and physicochemical properties of the biocides on migration were discussed.BIT was not detected in Tenax,so it was safer to add into paper when packaging dry food.