Analysis of Food-Packaging Filmby Headspace-GC/MS

Related Vendors

Gerhard Schubert GmbH - Verpackungsmaschinen

Elementar Analysensysteme GmbH

Italvacuum, Srl

Results

The TurboMatrix HS 40 Headspace sampler was successful in analyzing the solvents in food packaging. Six solvents were identified: 1 – MIBK (Methyl Isobutyl Ketone), 2 – NPAC (n-Propyl Acetate), 3 – ETAC (Ethyl Acetate), 4 – Propanol, 5 – ETOH (Ethanol) and 6 – Heptane. Ethanol and Propanol were the largest responders and overloaded the system. However, the requirements of the testing were to only get semi-quantitative information. Therefore, the overloading was accepted. All components were positively identified using a NIST library database.

The cookie package/wrapper had approximately 0.22 mg/m2 of solvents found. However, Propanol was very significant, making up the large majority of the total solvents identified. The cookie wrapper also had a lower level of interferences from outside sources. The shopping bag (purple) had approximately 0.32 mg/m2 of total solvent material (of the six solvents tested). This represented a very good response of all six solvents. In addition, there is a significant amount of other materials found in the food film. Because of the ability of the MS to extract only the required ion from the component of interest, this interference was not an issue.

The headspace system enabled the method to be set up and run unattended with no sample preparation. This eliminated the need for mason jars and operator attention. In addition, the system showed a significant amount of sensitivity for the required components, demonstrating the ease of setup methodologies of many types of food packaging at many different levels.

(ID:24869720)