Assessment of phthalate migration in polyethylene food contact materials sold on the Ghanaian market

Abstract Chemical contaminants that migrate into food may affect the safety and quality of the food depending on the nature and composition of the packaging material. The introduction of different packaging materials and designs have increased the specific hazards that humans are exposed to due to chemical migration into food. In Ghana, these food contact materials are not only used for food storage or transportation but also, foods such as kenkey are cooked with these food contact materials at very high temperatures for longer periods hence increasing the possibility of the migration rate and thereby posing hazard to consumers. The purpose of this study is to assess the quality and safety of polyethylene food contact materials used in the Ghanaian food industry in terms of phthalate migration. Five different polyethylene food contact materials specifically black polyethylene bags (BPB), plain polyethylene bags (TAB), thick plain polyethylene films/bags (TPB), polyethylene food containers (PFC) and polyethylene plastic bottles (PPB) were purchased from three different markets namely; Madina, Makola and Kwame Nkrumah circle within the Accra Metropolitan Assembly. The samples were analysed using a GC-MS after extraction with aqueous and fatty foods simulants.