Effect of high-pressure processing on the migration of ε-caprolactam from multilayer polyamide packaging in contact with food simulants

Polyamide is a material widely used as food packaging. However, residual monomers can migrate from polyamide food packaging into food during the processing and storage conditions. Hence, it is necessary to evaluate the effect of processing carried out with emerging technologies, taking this issue into consideration. This research presents for the first time the effect of high-pressure processing on the ε-caprolactam migration from multilayer polyamide packaging to different food simulants. Commercial LDPE/PA/LDPE and PET/LDPE/PA/EVOH/PA/LDPE packaging materials were filled with 70 mL of food simulant (acid, aqueous, and fatty) and processed at 600 MPa/25 °C/10 min, 600 MPa/90 °C/10 min, and 0.1 MPa/90 °C/10 min. Samples were evaluated as for ε-caprolactam overall and specific migration after processing and after conditioning at 40 ℃/10 days. The migration of ε-caprolactam to the distinct simulants after different processing was greater when processed under atmospheric pressure and high-temperature (0.1 MPa/90 °C/10 min) than when processed under high-pressure (600 MPa). All evaluated samples showed specific migration values of ε-caprolactam lower than 15 mg kg−1. Therefore, under the assessed conditions, the materials comply with the limits of the ε-caprolactam specific migration for the current legislation.