Identification of non-intentionally added substances in food packaging nano films by gas and liquid chromatography coupled to orbitrap mass spectrometry

The control of chemical migration from new functionalized food contact materials (FCMs) is a challenge for meeting food safety requirements. The non-intentionally added substances (NIAS) constitute a group of chemicals that are not applied, but may be introduced or formed during the production process of FCMs. This study describes a multi-analytical approach for the evaluation of unknown substances that migrate from FCMs. A case study is presented using a developed polymer consisting of a monolayer film with polylactic acid (PLA), polylimonene (PL) and zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs). This approach incorporates the platforms of ICP-MS (inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry), to determine whether there is transference of ZnO NPs used as antimicrobial agent and, the systems GC-MS and LC-MS (gas / liquid chromatography coupled to a quadrupole orbitrap mass spectrometer) for the characterization of the chemical structure of NIAS using the molecular mass and specific features of mass fragmentation. The screening of unknown compounds comprised retrospective analysis and data processing using both, a mass spectral library and databases, for GC and LC data, respectively. This approach has provided the tentative identification and quantification of seven NIAS, 3 by GC (Tripropylene glycol diacrylate, 10-Heneicosene and a-Tocopherol acetate) and 4 by LC (N,N-Diethyldodecanamide, N-[(9Z)-9-Octadecen-1-yl]acetamide, 1-Palmitoylglycerol and Glycerol stearate). This migration study was carried out according to the standard protocols established by EU regulation for FCMs.