Sorption behavior of flavor compounds into polyethylene (PE) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) films, which are the most popular materials as food packaging, was investigated. On the assumption of use for various drinks, each film was soaked in the model solution including 22 flavor compounds (SP value; 17.6 to 27.5 MPa^(1/2)), and sorption quantity of each compound was determined by GC·FID. As a result, different sorption behavior was observed in each resin. The sorption behavior in PET did not depend on the polarity of each compound and resin, which is the main factor of sorption phenomena in general. From the experiment using the model solution containing various alcohol concentration, sorption into PET depended on the polarity of the model solution as solvent, not on the polarity of each compound. Consequently, these result indicate that in solid / liquid phase system like the packaging for drinks, the affinity between “resin and solvent” has a great effect on sorption behavior, in addition to that between “flavor and resin” and between “flavor and solvent”.
View full abstract