Time-temperature study of the kinetics of migration of diphenylbutadiene from polyethylene films into aqueous foodstuffs

The objective of this work is to study the migration of the model migrant 1,4-diphenyl-1,3-butadiene (DPBD) from a low density polyethylene (LDPE) film into two representative aqueous foodstuffs in comparison to EU official food simulants. Orange juice and tomato ketchup samples were put into contact with the additivated plastic inside a migration cell. Then, samples were stored at different time-temperature conditions. The extraction was carried out with hexane and acetonitrile. Extracts were analyzed by HPLC–UV and DPBD was detected at 330 nm.Results showed that migration was not detectable in tomato ketchup and aqueous food simulants A and B (water and 3%acetic acid), whereas DPBD has migrated into orange juice. Acetic acid and water may be appropriate simulants for tomato ketchup but not for orange juice.The effective diffusion coefficients of DPBD determined in the polymer-orange juice system were 2.9 × 10−12, 3.7 × 10−12, and 7.5 × 10−12 cm2 s−1at 5, 25 and 40 °C, respectively, indicating that the diffusion in orange juice is about 4 orders of magnitude slower in the LDPE films.