The quality of packaging material used in the food industry is regularly controlled in order to avoid negative effects on product quality caused by emissions. In this publication, a fast and economical system based on a sensor array is presented. To eliminate interferences, a separation unit in the sampling system was added. As demonstrated for paperboard samples, it is possible to separate the main interfering compound, water vapor, and organic solvents into two peaks using a short packed polar column. The same approach can be used to analyze other packaging materials. For example, the emission of acetaldehyde from PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles, which causes an undesirable off-flavor, is easily detectable.
With a slight modifi cation of the headspace sampler it is possible to measure emissions from the inner varnish of sealed beverage cans as a production control.
