Determination of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) in paper-based food packaging samples

Abstract

In this study, a method for simultaneous determination of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) in paper-based food packaging was validated. The paper samples were extracted with ethanol/water (1 : 1, v/v) mixture at 70°C for 2 h by using an incubator shaker. The extracts were passed through 0.2 μm filters before LC-MS/MS analysis. The method detection limit and method quantification limit of both PFOA and PFOS were 0.1 and 0.3 ng/g, respectively. Correlation coefficients > 0.99 were obtained over concentration ranges from 0.3 to 10 ng/mL. The method recovery ranged from 100 - 106% with good repeatability (RSD < 5%). The method was applied to analyze 23 paper samples, however, PFOA and PFOS were not detected in any of these samples.