A critical review of the quality and safety of BADGE-based epoxy coatings for cans: implications for legislation on epoxy coatings for food contact.

BADGE-based epoxy resins have been commercially available for more than 40 years. They are extremely versatile, finding applications in many fields in both thermal and ambient cure applications. The present review focuses on their use in the food industry as surface coatings for food and beverage cans, and in particular on their chemical stability in relation to their toxicology and sensorial effects on foods. The implications of these properties of epoxy resins for prospective EU legislation on plastic coatings for food contact is discussed.

Cis/Trans Reactivity: Epoxy-Amine Systems.

The reactivities of cis and trans isomers of 1,2-diaminocyclohexane (1,2-DCH)/epoxy resin were studied separately. We found that the primary amine hydrogen disappears in both isomers at a similar rate when they react with an epoxy resin. However, the formation of tertiary amines differs considerably. The reactivity of the second amine hydrogen for the trans isomer is greater than that for the cis isomer, and this difference is observed as the reaction proceeds. The main reason for the slower disappearance of the cis secondary amine is steric hindrance and this fact is observed in the preexponential factors, glass transition temperatures (Tg), and ratio of rate constants of secondary to primary amine (R). The reaction was followed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy in the near-infrared range. The values of Tg were obtained by differential scanning calorimetry.

Overall migration and specific migration of bisphenol A diglycidyl ether monomer and m-xylylenediamine hardener from an optimized epoxy-amine formulation into water-based food simulants.

The overall and specific migrations of BADGE n = 0 monomer and m-XDA hardener from a BEPOX LAB 889 (Gairesa internal code), epoxy system cured at room temperature, into three water-based food simulants are studied. Hydrolysis of BADGE n = 0 was observed in all of these simulants, giving more polar products. We thus propose changing the EEC Directives, which at present only legislate for levels of BADGE n = 0 monomer in the simulants, to include the hydrolysis products of BADGE monomers. Another alternative would be to express all the migration levels due to BADGE and its derived products in terms of BADGE itself.