Studies of Migration of Styrene Monomer from Polystyrene Packaging into the Food Simulant

Migration of styrene monomer from polystyrene (PS) dishes was conducted during this research at temperatures of 5, 20, and 40°C. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations, these experiments were performed in contact with 10%ethanol as a food simulant for the oil in water (o/w) emulsions. The dishes were filled in each of the defined temperatures and stored for 35 days. In relatively close intervals (1, 7, 15, 24, and 35 days) the amount of migration which occurred was determined by means of Head Space Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (HSGC-MS). By increasing storage time and temperature, the amount of migration was increased and in all times and temperatures styrene monomer was detected. In addition, a mathematical model based on the Fick’s second law was validated to predict migration from packaging material into the 10% ethanol. The resulted diffusion coefficients were 3.6×10-18, 4.9×10-18, and 6×10-18 (m2/s) in 5 ,20 and 40°C respectively.