Determination of Migration Levels of 13 Fluorescent Whitening Agents in Food-contact Plastic Products by HPLC-MS/MS

SONG Zifeng; LIU Deyun; HE Guoshan; CHEN Yiguang; XIONG Xiaoting; LI Huiyong; RAO Pu; LI Zerong

doi:10.19554/j.cnki.1001-3563.2025.15.016

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Packaging Engineering ›› 2025, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (15) : 144-153. DOI: 10.19554/j.cnki.1001-3563.2025.15.016

Special Topic on Safety and Detection of Food Contact Materials

Determination of Migration Levels of 13 Fluorescent Whitening Agents in Food-contact Plastic Products by HPLC-MS/MS

SONG Zifeng, LIU Deyun, HE Guoshan, CHEN Yiguang, XIONG Xiaoting^*, LI Huiyong, RAO Pu, LI Zerong

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Abstract

The work aims to establish an HPLC-MS/MS method for determining migration levels of 13 fluorescent whitening agents (FWAs) in food-contact plastic products for risk monitoring of relevant substances. Migration tests were conducted with diverse food simulants. Water-based/alcoholic simulants were analyzed after 2-fold THF dilution, chemical alternative solvent, 95% ethanol, was determined after filtration and another chemical alternative solvent, isooctane was treated as follows: FWA121 was extracted with 50% methanol-water (containing 0.4% acetic acid) at a 1∶1 volume ratio before analysis. Other compounds were evaporated to near-dryness under nitrogen, and then reconstituted with 95% ethanol at a 1∶1 volume ratio prior to determination. The analysis was performed through high-performance liquid chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry. Separation was achieved on an XB Phenyl column (2.1 mm × 50 mm, 3 μm) with electrospray ionization (ESI) in positive mode. Quantification was carried out in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode by an external standard method. Under optimized conditions, all 13 FWAs showed linearity (r²>0.999), detection limits of 0.03-6 μg/kg, spiked recoveries of 85.3-104%, and RSDs (n=6) of 0.1%-9.7%. Two positive samples were identified among 30 batches of plastic products. The method features simplified pretreatment, excellent chromatographic resolution, high sensitivity and specificity, fulfilling detection requirements for FWA migration in food-contact plastics.

Key words

fluorescent whitening agents (FWAs) / migration / food-contact plastics / high-performance liquid chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS)

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SONG Zifeng, LIU Deyun, HE Guoshan, CHEN Yiguang, XIONG Xiaoting, LI Huiyong, RAO Pu, LI Zerong. Determination of Migration Levels of 13 Fluorescent Whitening Agents in Food-contact Plastic Products by HPLC-MS/MS[J]. Packaging Engineering. 2025, 46(15): 144-153 https://doi.org/10.19554/j.cnki.1001-3563.2025.15.016

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