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Description
Food packaging materials, often composed of multilayered components, may contain residual solvents that pose a potential health risk due to their ability to migrate into food products. To address this concern, regulatory agencies have established strict limits on solvent migration and intake—limits that are largely modeled after those used in the pharmaceutical industry to ensure consumer safety.
This study presents the development and optimization of a headspace gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (HS-GC-MS) method for the detection and quantification of twelve residual solvents commonly found in packaging materials. Method parameters were fine-tuned using two columns (HP-5 and DB-1701), with DB-1701 demonstrating superior peak separation and resolution. Calibration curves showed excellent linearity (R² > 0.9989) across a concentration range of 1–250 ppm. Recovery rates ranged from 90% to 101%, and repeatability was confirmed with relative standard deviations around 5% for standards at 5 and 10 ppm. The method was successfully applied to real packaging samples from various food products, revealing the presence of ethanol, acetone, and isopropanol in several cases. This method enables efficient and reliable analysis of residual solvents in packaging materials, supporting compliance with international safety standards.
Keywords: residual solvents, food packaging, HS-GC-MS, regulative compliance.
