An article published on March 10, 2017 in the peer-reviewed Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry reports on the short- and long-term migration from epoxy and acrylic-phenolic coatings into food simulants. Rafael Paseiro-Cerrato and colleagues from the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) evaluated whether the traditional migration testing (10 days at 40°C) provides an accurate estimation of migration from can coatings that may occur after long storage periods (years).
The authors looked at two types of can coatings, epoxy and acrylic-phenolic, and performed short- and long-term migration tests (1 day – 1.5 years) into several food simulants (water, 3% acetic acid, 50% ethanol, isooctane) at 40°C. The quantified migrants included bisphenol A (BPA, CAS 80-05-7), bisphenol A diglycidyl ether (BADGE, CAS 1675-54-3) and BADGE derivatives, as well as benzoguanamine (CAS 91-76-9) and several other relevant marker compounds.
The migrants remained stable in water. In isooctane, no migration was detected. In acidic simulant, most of the cans failed, as the coating was severely deteriorated. In 50% ethanol, the 10-days migration test underestimated the migration that occurred after long-term storage. The authors concluded that, for testing the migration from can coatings, “migration protocols should be modified to account for long-term storage.” However, before any changes are undertaken, long-term interactions of coatings with real foods need to be studied.
Similar conclusions have been reached previously for polyester (FPF reported) and polyvinyl chloride (FPF reported) can coatings.
Reference
Paseiro-Cerrato, R., et al. (2017). “Evaluation of short-term and long-term migration testing from can coatings into food simulants: Epoxy and acrylic-phenolic coatings.” Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 65: 2594-2602.
