Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to ion mobility quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry for the identification of non-volatile compounds migrating from 'natural' dishes

Although most new biomaterials for food industry applications are labelled '100% natural fabrication' and 'chemical-free', certain compounds may migrate from those materials to the food, compromising the organoleptic characteristics and safety of the product. In this work, the degree of compound migration from dishes made with four different biomaterials: bamboo, palm leaf, wood and wheat pulp was investigated. Migration tests were carried out using three food simulants, 10% ethanol (simulant A), 3% acetic acid (simulant B), and 95% ethanol (simulant D2). Unequivocal identification of non-intentionally added substances (NIAS) is challenging even when using high-resolution mass spectrometry techniques however, a total of 25 different non-volatile compounds from the migration tests were identified and quantified using Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to ion mobility quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-IMS-MS). In the bamboo samples three oligomers, cyclic diethylene glycol adipate, 3,6,9,16,19,22-hexaoxabicyclo[22.3.1]-octacosa-1(28),24,26-triene-2,10,15,23-tetrone and 1,4,7,14,17,20-hexaoxacyclohexacosane-8,13,21,26-tetrone exceeded the specified limits of migration.