[Interlaboratory study on migration test of cadmium and lead for food contact articles]

An interlaboratory study was performed to evaluate a migration test method of cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb), based on the Japanese Food Sanitation Law for glassware, ceramicware, enamelware and metal cans. Seventeen laboratories participated, and quantified Cd and Pb in eight test solutions as blind duplicates using flame atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS), graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GF-AAS), inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) or induced coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Statistical analysis revealed that the trueness, repeatability (RSDr) and reproducibility (RSDr) were 93-105%, 0.7-8.4% and 2.6-19.3% by using AAS, ICP-OES and ICP-MS (internal standard method). The performance of these methods is sufficient for testing specifications. However, some of the RSDr values exceeded 10% in GF-AAS, and careful control of accuracy is required.