Comparative Sorption of Aroma Compounds by Polyethylene and lonomer Food‐Contact Plastics

Abstract
Sorption of aroma by three common food packaging plastics in an aqueous system was investigated. All plastics, (LDPE and 2 ionom‐ers), exhibited similar sorption behavior. Equilibrium partition coefficients (Ke), ranged between 2 and 38 for benzaldehyde, citral and ethyl butyrate. A Ke of 3.4 × 103 for limonene indicated a strong affinity for the plastic phases. An equation was derived using Ke to predict the extent of sorption from a given aroma‐plastic system. Sorption isotherms were measured at three temperatures for limonene in a model system. A comparison of limonene sorption alone and from orange oil, showed similar patterns, with a lower Ke for orange oil. Triangle test results indicated that the sorption was detectable to the human senses.

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