ACCELERATOR MASS-SPECTROMETRY ANALYSIS OF AROMA COMPOUND ABSORPTION IN PLASTIC PACKAGING MATERIALS

Absorption of aroma compounds in plastic packaging materials may affec t the taste of the packaged food and it may also change the quality of the packaging material. A method to determine the aroma compound abso rption in polymers by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) is being dev eloped at the Lund Pelletron AMS facility. The high sensitivity of the AMS method makes it possible to study these phenomena under realistic conditions. As a first test low density polyethylene exposed to C-14- doped ethyl acetate is examined. After converting the polymer samples with the absorbed aroma compounds to graphite, the C-14/C-14 ratio of the samples is measured by the AMS system and the degree of aroma comp ound absorption is established. The results are compared with those ob tained by supercritical fluid extraction coupled to gas chromatography (SFE-GC).