Evaluation of the migration of UV-ink photoinitiators from polyethylene food packaging by supercritical fluid chromatography combined with photodiode array detector and tandem mass spectrometry

UV-ink photoinitiators (PIs), which are used to initiate polymerization reaction for the curing of inks and lacquers, have become a kind of contaminant residues in printing plastic food packaging. The residual PIs in packaging may pose a potential threat to customers. In this work, migration behaviors of 13 PIs from a polyethylene (PE) packaging to food simulants according to regulation EU No 10/2011 were studied by supercritical fluid chromatography combined with photodiode array detector and tandem mass spectrometry (SFC-PDA-MS/MS). The method simultaneously analyzed 13 PIs within 4.5 min and was sensitively with low limits of detection of 0.02-2.16 μg/L, which could meet high throughput analysis for control the quality of food packaging. The migration results revealed that Irgacure 819, Darocure 1173 and TPO, which had low migration rates, should be preferably selected by plastic food packaging manufacture for food safety.