Mineral oils as the pressing problem of hygienic safety of a cardboard packing

Introduction. Providing sanitary and epidemiological safety for the secure packing production is a mandatory requirement for all manufacturers of food packing materials, no matter if it is in direct contact with foodstuff or not. However, hazardous chemicals can penetrate products from recycled materials, as well as from the moving parts of any packing equipment. Hence, the problem of packing material contamination by mineral oils, which can occur while using recycled materials, printing inks for making inscriptions and pictures, lubricating components of equipment, is of on-going interest. If packing materials are contaminated by mineral oils adverse chemicals can penetrate the foodstuff from the packing. Current packing safety requirements of European and Customs Unions differ in certain issues, in particular, hygienic regulation of mineral oils. Determination and assessment of mineral oil concentration are not regulated by Technical Regulation of the Customs Union 005/2011 “On Packing Safety” (TP TC 005/2011) in contrast to the requirements of European Union regulations which state allowable concentration and safe level of hydrocarbons in packing.

Material and Methods. 23 samples of cardboard packing from various manufacturers were studied, 10 of them containing wastepaper, 9 containing cellulose materials, and 4 samples being produced without recycled materials. The level of mineral oil migration into the air or aquatic simulated environments was determined. The studies were carried out at the “Arbitrazh” chemical and analytical Center of the D.I. Mendeleev All-Russian Scientific Research Institute, by gas chromatography using Perkin Elmer Auto System. Supelco standard was used for getting calibration characteristics, i.e.: a mixture of normal structure aliphatic hydrocarbons from C₆ to C₄₄, mass parts of certain hydrocarbons being from 1 to 12% of the masses.

Results. All studied cardboard packing samples were found to contain mineral oil in the hydrocarbon range of C₇-C₁₇. Mineral oil migration levels from 19 cardboard packing samples into simulated air and aquatic environments were determined.

Conclusion. Hygienic safety regulation issues of foodstuff cardboard packing are relevant and require further research. It is reasonable to include mineral oils into the list of regulated sanitary-epidemiologic safety indices, and standard values of chemicals releasing from food-contacting packing into the list of monitored indices TP TC 005/2011.