EN 1186-15:2002

Materials and articles in contact with foodstuffs - Plastics - Part 15: Alternative test methods to migration into fatty food simulants by rapid extraction into iso-octane and/or 95 % ethanol

Publication date:   Mar 5, 2003

Scope

This European Standard specifies two alternative test methods, in the sense of an extraction test with a 'more severe' test character, for the assessment of the overall migration into fatty food simulants.
Method A is based on the determination of the extraction of migrateable substances from plastics which are intended to come into contact with foodstuffs, by total immersion in non-polar, iso-octane, and/or polar, ethanol, solvents depending on the polarity of the packaging material. According to results obtained by this method (see [1],[2],[3],[4],[5],) and taking physio-chemical considerations into account, the obtained extraction efficiency has, generally, been found to be equivalent to or higher than overall migration results obtained under the test conditions, 10 days at 40 °C, 2 h at 70 °C, 1 h at 100 °C, 30 min at 121 °C and 30 min at 130 °C.
To ensure as complete as possible extraction of the potential migrants, a strong interaction, e.g. swelling, of the sample by the extraction solvent is necessary. For this purpose, iso-octane is used as an extraction solvent for plastics materials and articles containing non polar food contact layers, such as polyolefins. For test samples made from polar food contact plastics such as polyamide and polyethylene terephthalate, 95 % (v/v) aqueous ethanol is used. For polystyrenes, plasticized polyvinyl chloride and other polymers where the identification or polarity of the polymer is not clear, two parallel extraction tests should be conducted using both of the proposed extraction solvents and taking the higher value obtained as the relevant result.
NOTE 1 In case of multilayer structures such as plastics laminates and co-extruded plastics, the nature of the food contact layer determines the selection of the extraction solvent(s).