Abstract
As basic research for contributing to the determination of conformity with the Positive List (PL) system, chemical substances
contained in plastic utensils, containers and packaging were comprehensively analyzed using GC-MS. Total of 131 standard
substances of additives listed in the Japanese PL were analyzed to obtain information on mass spectra and retention index (RI). The
ratio of calculated RI to library-registered RI showed a good agreement, being 1.0 for most substances. By comparing RI in addition
to mass spectra, unknown peaks detected in plastic products could be identified more reliably. Chemical substances contained in
plastic products made of polypropylene, polyethylene, polystyrene, and polyethylene terephthalate, which are widely used generalpurpose
plastics, were analyzed. As a result, 61 of the 104 substances detected in plastic products were identified and/or estimated,
and about half of them were the ones listed in PL. However, the other half were non-listed substances, and most of them were
considered to be non-intentionally added substances (NIAS), which are degradation products, impurities, by-products, etc. of plastic
and additives.
