Meaning
Analytical test protocols standardized for materials in contact with foodstuffs establish precise methodologies for determining overall migration into fatty food simulants at elevated thermal exposures. European standard EN 1186-13 specifies test methods using modified polyphenylene oxide, chemically known as MPPO or Tenax, alongside alternative volatile extraction techniques to assess plastic components intended for high-temperature contact. The standard applies to ovenable containers, microwave cookware, and hot-runner moulded polymers where traditional liquid simulants boil, degrade, or dissolve the test substrate.
Extraction Procedure
High-temperature exposure trials replace liquid fatty simulants with an adsorbent porous polymer bed. Under EN 1186-13, a clean specimen of defined surface area is brought into contact with dry particulate Tenax, then placed inside an enclosed thermal chamber heated to temperatures between 100 and 175 degrees Celsius for designated residence times. Mobile oligomers, processing aids, internal lubricants, and thermal degradation byproducts migrate from the plastic directly into the adsorbent polymer.
After exposure, organic solvents extract the adsorbed species from the Tenax matrix, allowing gravimetric determination of the total migrated mass against baseline blanks.
Moulding Influence
Polymer processing conditions determine the volume of low-molecular-weight compounds that remain available for extraction. Excessive melt temperatures during plastication induce thermal cracking, generating volatile fragments, broken polymer chains, and free additive species that accelerate migration rates. Regrind additions amplify these risks, as repeated thermal cycles accumulate low-boiling scission fractions within the resin matrix.
Inadequate mould venting also traps compressed air and decomposed material against the cavity wall, leaving surface residues that desorb quickly when tested under EN 1186-13 conditions. Process stabilization and tight temperature control during injection moulding minimize the generation of these mobile fractions.
Regulatory Verification
Compliance assessments for food-contact plastics require overall migration limits to remain strictly below ten milligrams per square decimetre of food contact surface. Test reports generated under EN 1186-13 serve as legal proof of conformity under Regulation (EU) 10/2011 for plastics entering high-heat kitchenware and convenience packaging applications. The method isolates volatile and semi-volatile substances that would easily migrate into hot fatty foods, without generating the false mass loss readings caused by olive oil absorption into the polymer matrix.
Passing this test establishes that a moulded component will not alter food composition or organoleptic properties during cooking or reheating.
