STABILITY OF PLASTICS MONOMERS IN FOOD-SIMULATING LIQUIDS UNDER EUROPEAN-UNION MIGRATION TEST CONDITIONS

The stability of 24 plastics monomers permitted for use in the Europea n Union (EU) for food contact applications was studied in food-simulat ing liquids under various heating regimes. The monomers were heated;in each of the food simulants (distilled water, 15% ethanol, 3% acetic a cid, and olive oil) under: conditions stipulated in EU regulations for testing for compliance with migration limits. Of the 24 monomers stud ied, 21 showed a loss in one' or more of the simulants: for 14 substan ces the loss was 50% or greater, and 6 of the monomers were completely lost under at least one of the exposure conditions tested. These stud ies indicate that EU regulatory controls for monomers are, in a number of instances, meaningless, since it can be demonstrated that the star ting monomer will not be present at the end of the testing regime or i s substantially lost, thereby not reflecting the true level of migrati on.