Tetramethylsuccinonitrile in polyvinyl chloride products for food and its release into food-simulating solvents.
The content of tetramethylsuccinonitrile (TMSN), the main decomposition product of 2,2'-azobis-isobutyronitrile, in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) products used for food packaging, were examined as well as food-simulating solvents. The TMSN concentration in 17 PVC products ranged from below the detection limit, 0.05 mg/kg, up to 523 mg/kg. The release of TMSN from two PVC products into five kinds of food-simulating solvents at 60 degrees C for 30 min was observed, except for 1 +/- 1 micrograms/kg of TMSN in n-heptane from a PVC bottle containing 523 +/- 30.4 mg/kg of TMSN. The detection limit of TMSN in the food-simulating solvents was 1 micrograms/kg. When pieces of the bottle were stored in olive oil at 40 degrees C for 120 days, 5 +/- 1 micrograms/kg of TMSN was detected in the oil. The release of TMSN from the pieces of the bottle into olive oil between 80 and 140 degrees C depended on the formula ln y = 0.08786x-5.696, r = 0.9927, where y is the concentration (microgram/kg) of TMSN in olive oil, x is the temperature (degrees C), and r is the correlation coefficient.
D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis*; D005511:Food Handling; D009570:Nitriles / Q000032:analysis*; D011143:Polyvinyl Chloride / Q000032:analysis*; D011145:Polyvinyls / Q000032:analysis*
D009570:Nitriles; D011145:Polyvinyls; C036591:tetramethylsuccinonitrile; D011143:Polyvinyl Chloride