Identification of chemicals, possibly originating from misuse of refillable PET bottles, responsible for consumer complaints about off-odours in water and soft drinks.
Mineral water and soft drinks with a perceptible off-odour were analysed to identify contaminants originating from previous misuse of the refillable polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle. Consumers detected the off-odour after opening the bottle and duly returned it with the remaining content to the producers. The contaminants in question had thus been undetected by the in-line detection devices (so-called 'sniffers') that are supposed to reject misused bottles. GC-MS analysis was carried out on the headspace of 31 returned products and their corresponding reference products, and chromatograms were compared to find the possible off-odour compounds. Substances believed to be responsible for the organoleptic change were 2-methoxynaphthalene (10 bottles), dimethyl disulfide (4), anethole (3), petroleum products (4), ethanol with isoamyl alcohol (1) and a series of ethers (1). The mouldy/musty odour (5 bottles) was caused by trichloroanisole in one instance. In some cases, the origins of the off-odours are believed to be previous consumer misuse of food products (liquorice-flavoured alcohol, home-made alcohol containing fusel oil) or non-food products (cleaning products, petroleum products, oral moist snuff and others). The results also apply to 1.5-litre recyclable PET bottles, since the nature and extent of consumer misuse can be expected to be similar for the two bottle types.
Widén
H
H
SIK, The Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology, Box 5401, SE-402 29, Gothenburg, Sweden. helene.widen@sik.se
Leufvén
A
A
Nielsen
T
T
D000081248:Allylbenzene Derivatives; D000840:Anisoles / Q000032:analysis; D001628:Beverages; D004868:Equipment Failure; D017743:Equipment Reuse; D000431:Ethanol / Q000032:analysis; D005506:Food Contamination; D018857:Food Packaging / Q000379:methods; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D009281:Naphthalenes / Q000032:analysis; D000439:Pentanols / Q000032:analysis; D010578:Petroleum / Q000032:analysis; D010969:Plastics; D011093:Polyethylene Terephthalates / Q000032:analysis*; D012903:Smell; D012997:Solvents / Q000032:analysis; D013440:Sulfides / Q000032:analysis; D014867:Water
D000081248:Allylbenzene Derivatives; D000840:Anisoles; D009281:Naphthalenes; D000439:Pentanols; D010578:Petroleum; D010969:Plastics; D011093:Polyethylene Terephthalates; D012997:Solvents; D013440:Sulfides; D014867:Water; D000431:Ethanol; C029683:isopentyl alcohol; C006578:anethole; C004784:dimethyl sulfide; C082155:2-methoxynaphthalene