# Evaluation of the Occurrence of Phthalates in Plastic Materials Used in Food Packaging
## 4 Conclusions  
The detection of phthalates in plastics used in food packaging is of utmost importance in order to ensure the high quality and safety of packed food and food-derived products. In this context, a sensitive method based on the HS-SPME approach combined with GC-MS was developed using multivariate optimization. The optimal HS-SPME conditions were \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Samples**} & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Phthalates Concentration (ug/L) \(\pm\) SD**} \\ \cline{2-5}  & **DIBP** & **BBP** & **BDE** & **DOP** \\ \hline Plastic 1 & \(<\)LOD & - & - & - \\ Plastic 2 & \(<\)LOD & - & - & - \\ Plastic 3 & \(<\)LOD & - & - & - \\ Plastic 4 & \(<\)LOD & 1.4 \(\pm\) 0.01 & \(<\)LOD & 2.8 \(\pm\) 0.04 \\ Plastic 5 & 4.8 \(\pm\) 0.3 & - & - & 1.0 \(\pm\) 0.01 \\ Plastic 6 & 10.6 \(\pm\) 0.2 & - & - & 2.2 \(\pm\) 0.06 \\ Plastic 7 & 9.0 \(\pm\) 0.4 & - & - & 1.8 \(\pm\) 0.07 \\ Plastic 8 & 6.1 \(\pm\) 0.3 & - & - & 1.1 \(\pm\) 0.08 \\ Plastic 9 & 8.2 \(\pm\) 0.4 & - & - & - \\ Plastic 10 & 4.7 \(\pm\) 0.05 & - & - & 2.2 \(\pm\) 0.02 \\ Plastic 11 & 3.6 \(\pm\) 0.7 & - & - & 1.9 \(\pm\) 0.2 \\ Plastic 12 & 10.7 \(\pm\) 0.6 & - & - & - \\ Plastic 13 & 6.8 \(\pm\) 0.8 & - & - & 1.9 \(\pm\) 0.4 \\ Plastic 14 & 4.3 \(\pm\) 0.2 & - & \(<\)LOD & 2.5 \(\pm\) 0.2 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} SD: standard deviation; \(<\)LOD: lower than limit of detection; \(<\)- not detected.  
\end{table} 
Table 4: Occurrence of phthalates in plastic-based food packages. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c c} \hline \hline
**Samples** & **Phthalates** & **Concentration Range** & **Ref.** \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{Meats} & DEHP (Park and Chicken) & 0.62, 0.8 mg/kg & [31] \\  & DEHP (Fruit jam, Salted meat); DnBP & 170 ug/kg, 2380 ug/kg; 1580 ug/kg & [42] \\  & DEHP; DiBP, DBP; BBzP & 2598 ug/kg; 3:300 ug/kg & [39] \\ \multirow{2}{*}{\begin{tabular}{l} Tea \\ Wine \\ \\ \end{tabular} } & DMP, DEP, DIBP; DBP; DEHP & 1.135-3.734 mg/kg & [43] \\  & DMP, DEP/DBP/BBP & 0.024–0.029 ug/mL & [44] \\  & DEHP, DBP, DEP, BOP & 0.76/0.96/1.06/0.77 ug/L & \\ \multirow{2}{*}{\begin{tabular}{l} Waters \\ (Bottled water) \\ \\ \end{tabular} } & DEHP, BBP, DBP, DEP, DMP & 3.42/2.89/13.99/5.35/1.15/2.07 & [46] \\  & (Bottled water) & \(\mu\)g/L & \\ \multirow{2}{*}{\begin{tabular}{l} Capsanthin \\ (Bears \\ \end{tabular} } & DHP, DEHP & 0.872/0.992 ug/g & [34] \\  & DMP, DEP, DBP, BBP, DEHP, DOP, & 0.588, 0.175, 0.118, 0.079, 0.009, & [20] \\  & DEHA & 0.006, 0.009 ug/L & [20] \\ \multirow{2}{*}{\begin{tabular}{l} Juice \\ Beverages \\ \end{tabular} } & DEHP, DEP & 0.01–08 mg/dm\({}^{3}\) & [37] \\  & DIBP, DEP & 0.580 /0.070 ug/L & [38] \\ \multirow{2}{*}{\begin{tabular}{l} Honey/Royal Jelly \\ Vegetables \\ \end{tabular} } & DEHP, DBP, BDE, DOP, & 0.3/1.5; 0.8/3; 0.3/1.5; 1.2; 6 ng/g & [39] \\  & DEHP, DnBP, DBP, DEP, BBP & 1881–4664/985/338/9/2 ug/kg & [40] \\ \multirow{2}{*}{\begin{tabular}{l} Powdered and Human/Raw \\ Milk \\ \end{tabular} } & Mono-BP, mono-BaP, & 0.1–500 mg/mL & [3,41] \\  & DnBP, BZBP, DEHP & 18/1.2/21 ug/kg & [3,41] \\ \multirow{2}{*}{\
\begin{tabular}{l} Yoghurt \\ Plastic Containers \\ \end{tabular} } & DEHP, DBP, BBP & 170/112/63 ug/kg & [30] \\ \multirow{2}{*}{
\begin{tabular}{l} Plastic Containers \\ \end{tabular} } & DIBP, BBP, BDE, DOP & 4.39 /1.42/\(<\)LOD/1.03 ug/L & This study \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 5: Levels of different phthalates found in different types of samples reported in the literature. achieved using the PDMS/DVB fiber at 80 \({}^{\circ}\)C for 30 min. The performance of the HS-SPME/GC-MS methodology was evaluated in terms of linearity, LODs, LOQs, precision, and recovery. A good linearity (R\({}^{2}\)\(\geq\) 0.995), intra-day/inter-day precision (RSD < 13%), and recovery (90.2 to 111%) were obtained for the quantification of phthalates. The LODs ranged from 0.03 to 0.08 \(\mathrm{\SIUnitSymbolMicro g}\)/L, while the LOQs ranged from 0.10 to 0.24 \(\mathrm{\SIUnitSymbolMicro g}\)/L.