RESIDUES OF FORMALDEHYDE IN WOODENWARE

Formaldehyde in woodenware, such as disposable chopsticks, toothpicks, cutting boards, wooden pestles, etc., was investigated. The 4-amino-3 -hydrazino-5-mercapto-1,2,4-triazole (AHMT) method was more suitable t han the acetylacetone method for the direct determination of formaldeh yde in a test solution of woodenware, because it was less affected by the presence of the wood extract. A total of 28 commercial woodenware samples were examined and the release of formaldehyde was 0.10 similar to 0.31 mu g/ml from 17 samples. The level was very low, but the freq uency of a positive finding was high. Formaldehyde was also determined in natural wood, and the amount increased with drying. Therefore, it was concluded that the formaldehyde found in commercial woodenware ori ginated mainly from the natural wood.