Abstract:

A total of 16 kinds of phthalate esters in plastic food packaging materials were determined using gas
chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC-FID). The method had an excellent linear relationship with
correlation coefficient of 0.9965 to 1.0000 and the limit of detection of this method was 0.55 to 3.05 mg/kg. Rapid
and simultaneous separation of the phthalate esters was achieved by using hexane as the extraction solvent through
ultrasonic-assisted extraction, oscillation. The recovery rates and relative standard deviation of this method were
82.1% to 111.2% and 0.6% to 8.9%, respectively. Only butylbenzylphthalate (BBP) was detected in 4 types of
commercial plastic food packaging materials with levels of 1.43, 9.70, 9.82, 11.6 mg/kg, respectively. The analytical
method developed in this study proved to be easy, sensitive, reliable and useful to analyze phthalate esters in plastic
food packaging materials.

Key words: phthalate esters, plastic food packaging materials, gas chromatography, flame ionization detector