A SYSTEMATIC STUDY ON THE STABILITY OF SELECTED POLYMER ANTIOXIDANTS IN EU OFFICIAL AQUEOUS AND ALTERNATIVE FOOD SIMULANTS USING HPLC

Whilst considerable research has been conducted on the stability of pl astics additives during processing, there is, on the other hand, a lac k of studies on the stability of the same additives in food simulants in the published literature. lit the work presented a systematic study has been undertaken on the stability of five selected commercial plas tics additives (Irganox 3114, Irganox 1035, Irganox 245, Irganox 1098 and Irgafos P-EPQ) in the three EU-official aqueous food simulants (di stilled water, 3% aq. acetic acid and 15% aq. ethanol) and in an alter native fat simulant (95% aq. ethanol) tinder two different time/temper ature exposure conditions (10 days at 40 degrees C and I h at 100 degr ees C). To enable quantitative analysis of the additives for this inve stigation, a simple and rapid HPLC method with UV detection was develo ped. The results obtained showed that the four Irganox-type additives under investigation were practically stable under the applied exposure conditions in all of the employed food simulants. Only Irganox 3114 e xhibited a relatively low degree of instability in the ethanolic food simulants. Concerning Irgafos P-EPQ, a mixture of at least seven const ituents, a remarkable degradation in ethanol and acetic acid solutions was observed. The developed HPLC method is also considered to be appl icable for stability testing of other Irganox-type additives both in a queous and fatty food simulants.