Migration of mineral oil hydrocarbons from contaminated paperboard into the food simulants Tenax and Sorb‐Star—A comparison

Abstract

A previous work dealt with surrogates and food simulants to evaluate mineral oil hydrocarbons (MOH) migration processes from paper-based food packaging. In this article, we compare this study with migration studies of real papers, contaminated with MOH. The focus was the applicability of food simulants in contact with MOH and the verification of surrogates. Tenax and Sorb-Star were chosen as food simulants, which were brought into contact with recycling paperboards. Kinetic studies were performed at 20 C, 40 C, and 60 C for up to 12 days. There were significantly lower migration rates for the more polar MOAH than for MOSH. There is nearly no migration of mineral oil aromatic hydrocarbons (MOAH) above C 25 . In general, Tenax in 'touching contact' showed the highest values, while Tenax tested with conditions that induce gas phase transport and Sorb-Star resulted in lower but similar migration rates. Sorb-Star in touching contact to the paperboard showed higher migration rates for non-volatile compounds compared to Tenax in gas phase transfer, depending on the test temperature used. Nevertheless, under comparable conditions, MOH migrate to a similar percentual extent for each type of paperboard used. It was shown that the migration behaviour of MOH can be depicted by the use of respective surrogates, which will help to ease the analytical tasks. Migration tests with these surrogates using Tenax and Sorb-Star as food simulants at 20 C and 40 C can cover a wide range of real-life migration processes from paper-based food packaging into foods, provided that appropriate conditions are chosen.

A critical review of test methods and alternative scientific approaches to compliance and safety evaluation of paper and board for food contact

“…Therefore, Bradley et al (2014) proposed further development of modeling as the better solution. Adapting the geometry of the simulant to that of foods using rods instead of fine particulate adsorbents is an experimental way to reduce the differences to real foods ( Fengler and Gruber, 2022 ) or using real foods ( Eicher et al, 2015 ; Van Den Houwe et al, 2018 ).…”

“…Notably, both solid simulants covered reasonably, i.e., with a slight overestimation, and the migration into milk powder occurred at 25°C and 50°C. Fengler and Gruber (2022) studied Sorb-Star as another alternative dry food simulant. Sorb-Star is not porous like MPPO but rod-shaped polydimethylsiloxane (20 mm, ø 2 mm), which is highly adsorptive toward low and medium volatile lipophilic organic compounds.…”

Evaluation of three extraction methods for the isolation of PAHs from recycled paperboard materials intended for food contact applications

“…When the raw material consists of recycled fibers, the risk of contamination can become higher during the production process of paperboard [12][13][14]. Many previous studies have delved into the potential presence of hazardous contaminants in recycled cellulose and the impact such chemicals can have on human health [12,[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. The substances in question include chemicals mostly present in inks, adhesives, plasticizers, and colorants [14,23,24], such as phthalates, diisopropyl naphthalenes (DIPNs), Bisphenol A, mineral oil hydrocarbons (MOHs), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).…”