Monitoring of photoinitiators in food products from Turkey

Abstract

Photoinitiators (PIs) are the potential contaminants that may migrate from the packaging material to the food. These migrants could be a potential risk to human health. A total of 115 samples including 67 snack foods, 3 noodles, 10 milk samples, 8 baby foods, 9 fruit juices, 5 butter samples, and 13 kinds of cereal and their based-foodstuffs were analyzed for screening the occurrence of 15 photoinitiator residues including 4,4′-Dihydroxybenzophenone (44-DHBP), 2,4-Dihydroxybenzophenone (24-DHBP), 2,2′-Dihydroxy-4-methoxybenzophenone (DHBP), benzophenone (BP), 2-Hydroxy-4-methoxybenzophenone (OXBP), 2-Hydroxy-4-n-Octoxybenzophenone (2H4OBP), 2-Hydroxy-4-n-hexyloxybenzophenone (2H4HBP), 4-Isopropylthioxanthone (ITX), 4-Hydroxybenzophenone (4-HBP), 4-Methylbenzophenone (4-MBP), 4-Morpholinobenzaldehyde (44-MB), Ethyl 4-dimethylaminobenzoate (EDMAB), 2-Isopropylthioxanthone (2-ITX), 4,4′-Bis(diethylamino)-benzophenone (DEAB) and 2-Ethylanthraquinone (EA). BP was the most detected PI in different food categories. The highest BP concentration was 30.2 ppb in snack foods. Seven snack food samples had high concentrations of 44-DHBP, 4-MBP, ITX, and 2-ITX and their concentrations exceeded the relevant specific migration limit (SML) values. The other positive samples did not exceed the SML values recommended by the European Commission. Another predominant PI, namely ITX, was detected in all different food categories except baby foods. The highest ITX concentrations were in snack foods (17.2 ppb) and fruit juices (15 ppb).