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Investigation of the Storage Temperature Effect on Phthalate Migration Potential in Vacuum‐Packed Fish Fillets

Journal of Food Safety 2024 2 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count.
Gonca Alak, Rabia Nur Yavaş

Summary

Vacuum-packed rainbow trout fillets stored at refrigerator and freezer temperatures for three months were found to accumulate phthalate plasticizers that migrated from the packaging material, with the chemical composition of the packaging itself changing over time with temperature. The study highlights that plastic food packaging is an active source of chemical exposure for consumers, not just a passive container, and that storage conditions matter for how much contamination occurs.

Polymers

ABSTRACT Information on the microplastic (MPs) migration, particularly phthalate acid esters (PAEs) in packaged seafood, is limited to a few studies. The aim of this study is to follow the possible migration potential and speed of phthalates in rainbow trout ( Oncorhynchus mykiss ) fillets stored in vacuum packaging depending on the storage temperature, as well as to determine the polyethylene polymer detection. For this purpose, the fillets were randomly distributed as three pieces in each bag, vacuum‐packed, and stored at commonly used temperatures (+4°C and −20°C) for 3 months. On the first day of storage in fillet and packaging materials, in certain periods of storage, the phthalate content in the fillet of each temperature group was determined. It has been determined that the chemical composition of the bag used in the vacuum packaging process is affected by the temperature depending on the storage period, and different polymer types are formed in the packaged material. Ten types of PAEs including diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP), dibutylphthalate (DBP), di‐n‐pentyl phthalate (DPENP), di‐n‐hexyl phthalate (DHEXP), butylbenzylphthalate (BBP), di‐(2‐ethylhexyl)‐phthalate (DEHP), dicyclohexyl phthalate (DCHP), di‐n‐octylphthalate (DNOP), di‐iso‐nonylphthalate (DINP), and di‐isodecylphthalate (DIDP) were recorded in the packaging material and stored fillets. It was determined that the dominant PAE in the fillets were DPENP, and DEHP in the package at all temperature applications and storage periods. The findings help monitor the presence and migration of PAEs in foods and provide a motivating model for adopting the right technologies.

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