Evaluation of heavy metal migration from plastic food packaging materials to aqueous simulants by ICP-MS

We have studied the heavy metal migration from three different plastic materials used for food packaging with a developed ICP-MS method. The leaching amounts of 14 metallic elements from different plastics varied largely when 3% acetic acid was used as food simulant. Toxic elements such as As, Cd and Pb were detected in the leachate but in low levels. Significantly more heavy metal leaching into food simulant B than other aqueous solutions was observed. Obvious more metal migration was found with increasing contact time from 1h to 72h. The results showed good spike recovery rates and low RSD% for repeated measurements demonstrating the accuracy and precision of the determinations.