Scientific Publications by FDA Staff

Food Addit Contam Part A 2016 Feb;33(2):352-63

Target and non-target analysis of migrants from PVC-coated cans using UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap MS. Evaluation of long term migration testing.

Vaclavikova M, Paseiro-Cerrato R, Vaclavik L, Noonan GO, DeVries J, Begley TH

A simple, rapid, and sensitive method for analyzing multi-target and non-target additives in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) food can coatings using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole-orbital ion trap mass spectrometry has been developed. This procedure has been used to study the behavior of a cross-linking agent, benzoguanamine (BGA), two slip agents, oleamide and erucamide, and 18 other commonly-used plasticizers including phthalates, adipates, sebacates, acetyl tributyl citrate, and epoxidized soybean or linseed oils. This optimized method was used to detect these analytes in food simulants (water and 3% acetic acid) in a long term migration test of PVC-coated food cans for a period ranging from 1 day to 1.5 years at 40 degrees C. Although very low detection limits (5 ng/mL) were obtained for the majority of compounds, none of monitored plasticizers and slip agents were detected in simulants extracted from cans over the period of the test. However, BGA presence in both aqueous food simulants was confirmed based on high resolution mass spectrometry, product ion spectra and analysis of a reference standard. The BGA concentration in both simulants continued to increase with storage time: after 1.5 years storage in aqueous food simulants at 40 degrees C, BGA was detected at concentrations up to 84 microg/dm2. We believe this is the first study describing the long term migration capacity of BGA from any vinyl coating material intended for use in PVC-coated food cans. Our results may have implications for migration test protocols for food cans which will be stored for extended time periods.