Abstract: A method for detecting geraniol and α-terpilenol incorporated into ethylene-vinyl alcohol (EVOH) active food packaging film was established by using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The extraction and detection conditions were optimized. The external standard method was used to conduct quantitative analysis. The results showed that the GC-MS method had a good linearity over the concentration range of 0.02–2.0 mg/L for geraniol and α-terpilenol with correlation coefficients of 0.999 2 and 0.999 0, respectively. The limits of detection (LOD) for the analytes were 0.003 and 0.007 mg/kg and limits of quantification (LOQ) were 0.010 and 0.020 mg/kg, respectively. The recoveries of the preservatives were in the range of 82.5%–98.5% at spiked levels of 0.1, 0.2 and 1.0 mg/kg with relative standard deviations (RSDs) ranging from 3.6% to 10.4%. The method is rapid, simple and highly sensitive. It can provide a foundation for further insight into the release mechanism of active substances from active food packaging materials and offer a detection method for ensuring the safety of active food packaging film for application.

Key words: gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), geraniol, α-terpilenol, ethylene-vinyl alcohol (EVOH), active packaging film