Plastic bags are widely used in food packaging due to cost and flexibility, for example breakfast items such as hot steamed buns, oil cake and soybean milk are typically packaged in plastic. Leftovers, supermarket cooked food and even beer, are also packaged with plastic bags. Plastic packaging is very convenient but plasticizers and other additives dissolve and migrate into food during processing, heating and packaging, which can result in food contamination and permanent damage to human health and the environment.
This application note demonstrates a method for the determination of 16 phthalates (PAEs) and 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) leaching from plastic bags using the PerkinElmer Clarus® SQ 8 GC/MS with electron ionization (EI) source. The method is based on the Chinese National Standards GB 31604.1-2015, GB 31604.30-2016 and GB 5009.265-2016. 1-3 Toluene is used as a solvent to extract the target compounds from the food simulants.