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.