Migration of melamine and formaldehyde from tableware made of melamine resin

Abstract

Migration of melamine and formaldehyde into food‐simulating solvents from cups made of melamine resin was studied under various conditions. Little migration of melamine was observed in any unused cups kept at 60°C for 30 min, room temperature (26°C) for 1 h or cooled at—20°C for several days. Migration of both compounds was strongly affected by heating and acidity. The highest migration of melamine into 4% acetic acid used as a food‐simulating solvent was 42.9 ± 7.2 ppm when the migration test was repeated seven times at 95°C for 30 min. In this time, the migration of formaldehyde was 14.2 ±0.6 ppm into the solvent. The molecular ratio of the migration amount of formaldehyde to melamine decreased according to the formula Y=9.15X^−0.813 over seven repetitions of the test, and was maintained at about 1.6 between the 10th and 20th repetitions. The inner surface of the cups became tarnished during the repetition of the test and their roughness increased from 1 μm before the test to 2.5–5 μm after 20 repetitions of the test. Migration of melamine from the cups being used at a cafeteria was 0.4 ± 0.5 ppm, but that of formaldehyde was undetectable when the cups were kept at 60°C for 30 min with 4% acetic acid.