Correlation between Partition Coefficients Polymer/Food Simulant, K_(PF), and Octanol/Water, Log P_(OW)- a New Approach in support of Migration Modeling and Compliance Testing

摘要

An investigation on the migration of various migrants from low-density polyethylene (LDPE) into food simulants was undertaken to determine the correlation of partition coefficients between LDPE/food simulants, K_(P,F) and octanol/water, P_(OW). The migration tests were carried out using four simulants (10%, 50%, 95% ethanoi and olive oil) in contact with a LDPE film which was spiked with 15 compounds. These model migrants cow a wide range of potential migrants in plastics food packaging materials andcan be characterized by qetanol/water partition coefficients ranging from log P_(OW)= 0.36 to 18.08. In all simulants a correlation of increasing log P_(OW) with increasing log K_(P,F) was found. Assuming a linear relationship, correlation coefficients(R) for 10%, 50%, 95% ethanoi and olive oil were 0.98, 0.65,0.80 and 0.68, respectively. Using the correlationJine as a calibration curve, log K_(P,F) can be predicted from the log P_(OW) values of the migrants for a given food simulant and, hence, migrating amounts can be estimated by migration modelling provided the migrant concentration in the polymer is known. This approach is a new estimation procedure to obtain K_(P,F) values from easily accessible P_(OW) values which can significantly reduce theefforts for compliance assessment by minimizing time and costs to be spent compared to carrying out an enormous number of-specific migration test. Furthermore, this approach will support experimental migration testing since it provides a method to determine which simulant is appropriate for a given foodstuff.