Chemical migration in mineral water packaged in pet bottles and sensory changes during the shelf-life.

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles are the most widely used mineral water
containers. The growth in bottled water is influenced by three public concerns of fears: a
declining quality from municipal water supplies; toxic contamination of ground water
sources and a general increased interest in personal health. However, very little attention
has been paid to the changes in quality of water after prolonged storage in plastic
containers. The aim of this research was the determination of volatile migrants from PET
bottles to the mineral waters and the correlation of these data with the sensory analysis.
The migrants were extracted and analyzed by SPME-GC-MS. The sensory profile of
samples was performed measuring the intensity of different descriptors olfactive/flavour,
gustative and tactile/chemestetic. Of interest resulted the presence of aliphatic linear
aldehydes such as octanal and nonanal which were related to the plastic-like off-odor
descriptor. Different amount of migrants during shelf-life resulted in agreement with the
sensory results.