Migration of formaldehyde and melamine monomers from kitchen- and tableware made of melamine plastic

Kirsten H. Lund (1) , Jens Højslev Petersen (2)

1 Division of Residues
2 Department of Food Chemistry

Migration of one or both monomers was found from 7 out of 10 tested melamine samples bought on the Danish market. The samples were a bowl, a jug, a mug, a ladle and different cups and plates. No violation of the EU specific migration limits for melamine (30mg/kg) and formaldehyde (15mg/kg) was seen after three successive exposures to the food stimulant 3% acetic acid, two hours at 70oC. To investigate the effects of long-term use, migration tests were performed with two types of cups from a day nursery. Furthermore, medium-term use was studied by 10 successive exposures of a plate to 3% acetic acid, 30 min at 95oC. The results indicate that continuous migration of formaldehyde and melamine takes place during the lifetime of the articles. The molar ratio of released formaldehyde to melamine was seen to decrease from 12 to about 5. This indicates that first the migration of residual monomers is most important but in the long term breakdown of the polymer dominates. Two CEN-methods were used to determine the concentration of monomers; a spectrophotometric method for formaldehyde and a UV-HPLC method for melamine.

Mots clés: Life Sciences

Kirsten H. Lund, Jens Højslev Petersen. Migration of formaldehyde and melamine monomers from kitchen- and tableware made of melamine plastic. Food Additives and Contaminants, 2006, 23 (09), pp.948-955. ⟨10.1080/02652030500415660⟩. ⟨hal-00577569⟩