Abstract
The release of melamine and formaldehyde from kitchenware made of melamine resins is still a matter of great concern. To investigate the migration and release behavior of the monomers from melamine-based food contact materials into food simulants and food stuffs, cooking spoons were tested under so-called hot plate conditions at 100 °C. Release conditions using the real hot plate conditions with 3% acetic acid were compared with conditions in a conventional migration oven and with a release to deionized water. Furthermore, the kinetics of the release were studied using Arrhenius plots giving an activation energy for the release of melamine of 120 kJ/mol. Finally, a correlation between quality of the resins, specifically the kind of bridges between the monomers, and the release of melamine, was confirmed by CP/MAS 13C-NMR measurements of the melamine kitchenware. Obviously, the ratio of methylene bridges and dimethylene ether bridges connecting the melamine monomers during the curing process can be directly correlated with the amount of the monomers released into food.
Highlights
Polymers produced from the monomers melamine and formaldehyde are used in a variety of food contact materials (FCM)
To examine within-batch variability of the samples, two sets of spoons were tested in triplicate each with a first, second and third exposure to food simulant (3% acetic acid on hot plates)
The standard deviation of the release of melamine and formaldehyde from the spoons was between 10% and 20% in the third release step
Summary
Polymers produced from the monomers melamine and formaldehyde are used in a variety of food contact materials (FCM). These melamine resins are hard, unbreakable and have a certain degree of thermal resistance, and are used for the production of dishes and kitchen utensils. FTIR studies were performed on MF resins and gave more insight to the crosslinking in the polymer [7–9]. These methods were never used to find a correlation between release of melamine or formaldehyde into food simulants or foodstuffs and the crosslinking of the resin.
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