Quantitative Analysis of Food Packaging by Thermal Desorption–GC–MS Method

Abstract

This application note demonstrates quantitative analysis of food packaging samples by thermally desorbing the sample into a GC-MS.

Introduction

Food packaging is used to protect food against microbiological, chemical and physical contamination. However, the interactions between the food packaging and the content may actually lead to alterations in the food quality. Two types of such interactions have been extensively studied as (1) migration of substances from packaging to food^1,2, where organic compounds, such as adhesive, ink solvent, plasticisers, photoinitiators, perfluorochemicals, leached from the container into the content, and (2) scalping by the packaging³ , where the flavor and antioxidant in the food are absorbed by the container.