Permeation of Mineral Oil Components from Cardboard Packaging Materials through Polymer Films

Mineral oil migration from cardboard packaging into foodstuffs is recognized as a serious problem for the consumers. Within this study, a fast automated method for the determination of mineral oil permeation through barrier films was developed. The method is using 15 defined standard substances representing mineral oil chemistry instead of complex mineral oil mixtures. The developed method can be used for the evaluation of the barrier properties for polymer films regarding mineral oil components from paper and cardboard packaging materials. For all investigated permeants and polymer films, the logarithm of the permeation rates and the logarithm of the vapour pressure result in a linear correlation. The correlation can be used to compare the permeation properties of different barrier films. From the results of this study, it can be concluded that 12 mu m oriented polyethylene terephthalate or 15 mu m oriented polyamide are effective barriers towards mineral oil components. The barrier effect of pure polyolefin films is negligibly poor because the permeation is too fast and the lag time is in the range of a few hours at 40 degrees C. As a consequence, the migration of mineral oil components from cardboard can be significantly reduced if inner layers of good barrier materials such as polyethylene terephthalate or polyamide are used. Copyright (c) 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.