Impact of dishwashing on the chemical mixtures leaching from reusable plastic bottles

Reusable drinking bottles have become popular globally and come in a range of shapes, colors and materials, including a range of plastics. The objective of this study was to investigate chemical mixtures migrating from reusable plastic bottles into the beverage using targeted and non-targeted screening, and assess the impact of dishwashing on chemical mixtures leaching from bottles. Reusable plastic bottles were collected in five European countries. Bottles were filled with 200 mL of food simulant (3% acetic acid) to assess migration for 1 or 10 days, and the resulting samples were analyzed using liquid chromatography coupled with quadruple time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-QTOF-MS). Out of the 32 targeted compounds, the occurrence of diisobutyl phthalate (DiBP) was confirmed at trace levels in the food simulants for 1/39 and 22/39 types of washed bottles after 1 and 10 days of migration, respectively. Other substances such as dibutyl maleate, dibutylamine, octadecanamide, n-lauryldiethanolamine, and tributyl citrate were detected in the food simulants using a non-targeted workflow. Based on both targeted and non-targeted results, dishwashing impacted the profiles of the chemical mixtures leached from reusable plastic bottles. Relatively higher migration was observed for some substances (incl. DiBP) in washed bottles compared to unwashed ones. • Chemical migration was assessed for 39 types of reusable plastic bottles • Diisobutyl phthalate (DiBP) was confirmed at trace levels in the food simulants • Higher DiBP migration was observed after dishwashing the plastic bottles • Other chemicals were identified in the food simulants using non-targeted analysis