Migration of bisphenol-A diglycidyl ether (BADGE) and its reaction products in canned foods.

Bisphenol-A diglycidyl ether (BADGE) is used as an additive or starting agent in coatings for cans. The presence of hydrochloric acid in the organosol (PVC-based) lacquers results in formation of chlorohydroxy compounds of BADGE. These compounds, as well as BADGE itself, are potential migrants into the preserved food and are of toxicological concern. In the present investigation the presence of BADGE and the chlorohydroxy compounds (BADGE.HCl and BADGE.2HCl) in various kinds of canned foods from 30 brands have been determined by HPLC with fluorescence detection. BADGE was found in levels up to 5.1 mg/kg in the food and only in food from cans containing BADGE.HCl and BADGE.2HCl in the lacquers. BADGE was found both in fish in oil and in fish in tomato sauce, however, the highest amounts were found in the fatty foodstuffs. BADGE.HCl and BADGE.2HCl were found in concentrations up to 2.4 mg/kg and 8.3 mg/kg, respectively. Unlike BADGE, BADGE.2HCl was found in similar concentrations in fish in oil and in fish in tomato sauce. In aqueous and acidic foodstuffs BADGE readily hydrolyses into mono- and dihydrolysed products (BADGE.H2O and BADGE.2H2O). In this study BADGE.H2O was not found in any food sample, whereas BADGE.2H2O was found in levels up to 2.6 mg/kg. The Scientific Committee for Food (SCF) of the European Commission has proposed that a limit of restriction of 1 mg/kg food shall include BADGE itself and BADGE.H2O, BADGE.HCl, BADGE.2HCl and BADGE.HCL.H2O. The present results indicate that the migration of BADGE.HCl and BADGE.2HCl, compounds with almost no data on toxicity, implies a greater problem than BADGE.H2O and BADGE.2H2O.