Bisphenol A (BPA) is a known endocrine disruptor, specifically regulated by legislation on food contact materials (FCMs) and recently banned completely from the production chain of these materials (European Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2024/3190).
Because FCM production often involves processes such as painting and coating, any product used for this purpose must be tested to ensure acceptable BPA levels throughout the entire production line, as contact migration compliance is verified on the final product.
Enamels, resins, and industrial paints, along with their application solvents, are complex mixtures that may require different sample preparation procedures depending on their composition.
SRA has developed and validated a powerful three-axis robotic platform for sample preparation, capable of fully automating the entire workflow, with the only manual process required being weighing the initial sample aliquot.
The method was developed and validated on various industrial products and semi-finished intermediates, in the range of 20 µg/kg to 5 mg/kg, with the same preparation parameters, enabling a throughput of 6 samples/hour in offline preparation and 1.2 samples/hour in online processing with subsequent GC/MS injection.
The spiked samples showed an average recovery of 103%, and a method detection limit of 12 µg/kg was evaluated, enabling reliable monitoring of the entire production process.