Behavior of some solid food simulants in contact with several plastics used in microwave ovens.

The behavior of two synthetic adsorbents, Tenax and Porapak, as food simulants in contact with some plastic containers commercially available, recommended to be used for heating food in microwave ovens, has been studied. Containers of polycarbonate (PC), polypropylene (PP), polypropylene random (PP-random), polypropylene-20% talcum (PP%T), and the copolymer styrene-acrylonytrile (SAN) have been studied at 150 degrees C (PC) and 120 degrees C (the others). The volatile compounds released from the plastics and trapped into Tenax and Porapak have been analyzed by thermal desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (TD-GC-MS). The results obtained from these migration studies at high temperature are shown and discussed. Tenax performs better than Porapak at low temperature since the former desorbs the compounds at high temperature.