Journal of Food Safety and Quality

Objective To establish a method for the determination of the migration of 14 kinds of ultraviolet absorbers in aqueous food simulants and chemical alternative solvents (95% ethanol aqueous solution and isooctane) by high performance liquid chromatography. Methods The ultraviolet absorbers migrated into the aqueous food simulants were extracted twice with n-hexane by vortexing and shaking, and the combined extract was evaporated to dryness under reduced pressure and re-dissolved in tetrahydrofuran. The ultraviolet absorbers migrated into the chemical alternative solvents were evaporated to dryness and re-dissolved in tetrahydrofuran. A C8 column was used for separation, with acetonitrile and water as the mobile phase and gradient elution. Detection was performed using a ultraviolet detector at a wavelength of 300 nm. Results The limits of detection of 14 kinds of ultraviolet absorbers were as low as 0.008 mg/L, and the limits of quantitation were 0.020 mg/L. The correlation coefficients of the 14 kinds of target compounds were above 0.999 within the linear range of 0.20–5.0 mg/L. The 3 levels of ultraviolet absorbers (0.02, 0.05 and 0.50 mg/L) were added to the food simulants or chemical alternative solvents, and 6 replicate experiments were conducted. The results showed that the recovery rates of each compound at each level were within the range of 82.4%–108.0%, and the relative standard deviations were less than 10%. Conclusion This method is accurate, efficient and simple, and can be used to simultaneously determine the migration amounts of 14 kinds of ultraviolet absorbers in aqueous simulants and chemical alternative solvents.

food contact material; high performance liquid chromatography; migration; ultraviolet absorber