Migration of odorous compounds from adhesives used in market samples of food packaging materials by chromatography olfactometry and mass spectrometry (GC–O–MS)

Adhesives are commonly used in the manufacture of multilayer food packaging materials. Although they
are not in direct contact with the packed food, their compounds may migrate from the adhesive through
the substrates to the food. The aim of this work is to determine the migrant concentration in order to
evaluate the possible human risk and also to determine if this migration could affect the organoleptic
properties of packed food. For this purpose, a total of 12 market samples of multilayer materials (laminates)
for packaging dry food (tomatoes, cakes, cookies, breadcrumbs, flour or salt) or fresh food (pizza
and pastry) produced with 5 different adhesives were analysed by GC–O–MS. A total of 25 different compounds
from adhesives were detected in these laminates. Seventy-six percentage of these compounds
migrated into a dry food simulant (Tenax). Furthermore, compounds with concentrations below the
MS detection limit were detected by sniffers with a high modified frequency (MF%). Acetic acid, butyric
acid and cyclohexanol with vinegar, cheese and camphor odours were the most abundant compounds.
All migration data were below the specific migration limits (SML) and threshold toxicological concern
(TTC) recommended values according to the Cramer classification.