Migration from plastics into foodstuffs under realistic conditions of use

The analytical approach of stable isotope dilution GC‐MS is described, whereby measurements with a high sensitivity and specificity of low levels of organic species in foods can be made with good precision. This technique can be applied to determining levels of low molecular weight components arising in food by migration from plastics, or of higher molecular weight materials such as oligomers where these can be degraded to their monomeric units. In this paper a number of examples are outlined to illustrate the diversity of organic species originating from food packaging materials that can be measured in real foods. Plastics components considered are the monomeric plasticizer acetyltributyl citrate, a polymeric plasticizer, the plasticizer and secondary heat stabilizer epoxidized soya bean oil and oligomers from poly(ethylene terephthalate). Conditions of use of the plastics range from ambient storage to high‐temperature exposure during microwave cooking, for foods as diverse as alcoholic beverages, cheese, cakes and cooked meat dishes.