An Investigation into Possible Sources and Health Risks of Phthalic Acid Esters in the Iranian Laminated Flexible Films

Phthalates are esters of phthalic acid, mainly used as plasticizer in polymeric packaging materials. The main objective of this research was to determine the exact roots of the phthalate esters in the Iranian flexible/laminated packaging films commercially used for food products such as ketchup, spaghetti, mayonnaise, black tea and snack foods. This investigation was carried out by analyzing the layer by layer constituents of the commercial packaging multi-layer films. Twenty samples have been provided by three different known Iranian companies and analyzed by GC/MS/SIM method. The possibility of film contamination passing through the processing line and the risk of transferring of the phthalate esters from printing inks during winding the printed film (set-off migration) have been also studied. Four different types of phthalate compounds were found in all of the film samples in the range of 1.58-120.99 ppm. No serious phthalate contamination source was distinguished in the film processing line and no set-off migration was observed. The results showed that the total amounts of phthalates in the printed films were higher than the specific migration limit regulatory established for this group of compounds and it may be concluded that the main origin for phthalate esters in the Iranian laminated flexible films are the printing inks.