Abstract

The suitability of alternative fatty food simulants on overall migration determination under thermal treatment and microwave heating were analysed for different plastic materials commonly used for packs subjected to thermal treatment or microwave heating. Elevated temperature and microwave heating increased overall migration. The results demonstrated that polymer-simulant affinity plays a large role in determining the suitability of the alternative simulant. For PA/PE, ethanol 95% represented the best alternative fatty food simulant to reproduce overall migration with olive oil. PVC presented a high overall migration. Microwave heating increased migration up to 45 mg/dm 2. For PVC, isopropanol was able to reproduce olive oil even after microwave heating. For PP, none of the alternative fatty food simulants were able to reproduce overall migration with olive oil. PP presented high inert behaviour. Microwave heating did not produce a significant increase in overall migration; meanwhile, the time of exposure produced a more significant migration. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.