The examination of migration of primary aromatic amines from laminated plastic food packaging materials into food simulants by spectrophotometric method

Technological progress in the production of attractive food packaging materials results in the introduction to the market of products containing a large variety of chemical substances. The occurrence of potentially toxic compounds in food contact packagings may cause problems to health of consumers. The problem of the occurrence of primary aromatic amines (PAAs), exhibiting high toxicity to humans, in widely used laminated food contact materials is discussed in this work. Legislation introduced in the European Union countries limiting the migration level of PAAs into foodstuffs is presented. Methods of the examination of migration of PAAs from packaging materials into food simulant solutions are described. The results obtained for twelve examined materials by the use of a spectrophotometric method based on the diazotisation of amines and coupling of the diazo salts with N -(1-naphthyl) ethylenediamine are presented