Safety of Lebanese Bottled Waters: VOCs Analysis and Migration Studies

Aline Ghanem, Jacqueline Maalouly, Roula Abi Saad, Dalia Salameh, Chawki Oscar Saliba

UMR (Emballages Alimentaires au Liban), Faculty of Sciences II, Lebanese University, Jdeidet El-Matn, Lebanon.

DOI: 10.4236/ajac.2013.44023                

Abstract

Despite the worldwide increase in the consumption of PET-bottled mineral waters compared to tap waters encouraged by its microbiological and chemical safety for public health, contaminants could migrate from the plastic packaging into the water and induce adverse effects on human health. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, ortho, meta, and para-xylenes (BTEX), styrene, chlorobenzene and benzaldehyde are among the potential contaminants of bottled waters. This study aimed to assess Lebanese PET-bottled waters, in respect of VOCs contents, with comparison to polycarbonate-bottled and tap waters. Both HS-SPME-GC/FID and SPE-GC/FID were optimized and validated for VOCs determination in the waters, and their performances were compared. The HS-SPME-GC/FID was valid (Afnor NF T 90-210 (May 2009)) for all the studied molecules with limits of quantifications (LOQ) far lower the maximum contaminants levels (MCLs) set by both US-EPA and WHO. SPE-GC/FID was valid only for ethylbenzene, m/p-xylenes, o-xylene, and styrene, with poorer LOQs. HS-SPME-GC/FID was used therefore for VOCs monitoring in studied water samples showing the safety of the Lebanese bottled-water. The effects of bottles storage conditions (time, and exposure to sunlight) on VOCs migration were also studied.

Keywords

BTEX; Styrene; HS-SPME-GC/FID; SPE-GC/FID

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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