“How much plastic
will you have for dinner, sir? And you, ma’am?”While that may seem
like a line from a satirical skit on Saturday Night Live, research is
showing it’s much too close to reality.
90 percent of animal and vegetable protein samples tested positive for microplastics, teeny polymer fragments that can range from less than 0.2 inch (5 millimeters) down to 1/25,000th of an inch (1 micrometer), according to a February 2024 study. Anything smaller than 1 micrometer is a nanoplastic that must be measured in billionths of a meter.
🍐 Even vegetarians can’t escape, according to a 2021 study.
If the plastic is small enough, fruits and vegetables can absorb
microplastics through their root systems and transfer those chemical
bits to the plant’s stems, leaves, seeds and fruit.
🧂 Salt can be packed with plastic. A 2023 study
found coarse Himalayan pink salt mined from the ground had the most
microplastics, followed by black salt and marine salt. Sugar is also “an
important route of human exposure to these micropollutants,” according to a 2022 study.
☕ Even tea bags, many of which are made of plastic, can release enormous amounts of plastic. Researchers at McGill University in Quebec, Canada found brewinga single plastic teabag released about 11.6 billion microplastic and 3.1 billion nanoplastic particles into the water.
🍚 Riceis also a culprit. A University of Queensland study
found that for every 100 grams (1/2 cup) of rice people eat, they
consume three to four milligrams of plastic — the number jumps to 13
milligrams per serving for instant rice. (You can reduce plastic
contamination by up to 40% by washing rice, researchers said. That also
helps reduce arsenic,which can be high in rice.)
Let’s not Forget Bottled Water. 💧🧴
One liter of water - the
equivalent of two standard-size bottled waters - contained an average of
240,000 plastic particles from seven types of plastics, including
nanoplastics, according to a March 2024 study.
“All of those chemicals are used in the manufacturing of
plastic, so if a plastic makes its way into us, it’s carrying those
chemicals with it,” Sherri “Sam” Mason, director of sustainability at
Penn State Behrend in Erie, Pennsylvania, told CNN in a prior interview.
“And because the temperature of the body is higher than the
outside, those chemicals are going to migrate out of that plastic and
end up in our body,” Mason said.
“Those chemicals can be carried to your liver and your
kidney and your brain and even make their way across the placental
boundary and end up in an unborn child,” she said.
“There currently is no scientific consensus on the potential
health impacts of nano- and microplastic particles. Therefore, media
reports based on assumptions and conjecture do nothing more than
unnecessarily scare the public,” a spokesperson for the International
Bottled Water Association, an industry association, told CNN previously.
In the February study, which was published in Environmental
Research, researchers looked at over a dozen commonly consumed proteins,
including beef, breaded and other types of shrimp, chicken breasts and
nuggets, pork, seafood, tofu and several plant-based meat alternatives,
such as nuggets, plant crumbles similar to ground beef and plant-based
fish sticks.
🦐 Breaded shrimp contained the most tiny plastics by far, at
well over an average of 300 microplastic pieces per serving. Plant-based
nuggets came in second, at under 100 pieces per serving, followed by
chicken nuggets, pollock fish sticks, minimally processed White Gulf
shrimp, fresh caught Key West pink shrimp and a plant-based fish-like
stick.
🐔 The least contaminated proteins were chicken breasts, followed by pork loin chops and tofu.
After comparing the results to consumer consumption data,
researchers estimated the average exposure of American adults to
microplastics could range between 11,000 and 29,000 particles a year,
with a maximum estimated exposure of 3.8 million microplastics per year.
Fruits and Vegetables Tested High in Plastics
The oceans are filled with plastics,
and a number of studies have captured how those are ending up in the
seafood we eat. However, fewer studies have looked at vegetables and
land animal proteins, such as cattle and hogs, according to an August 2020 study.
The study, published in Environmental Science, found between 52,050 and 233,000 plastic particles under 10 micrometers - each micrometer is about the diameter of a rain drop - in a variety of fruits and vegetables.
Apples and carrots were the most contaminated fruit and
vegetable, respectively, with over 100,000 microplastics per gram. The
smallest particles were found in carrots, while the largest pieces of
plastic were found in lettuce, which was also the least contaminated
vegetable.
Plastics are Everywhere
There are a staggering number of plastics in the world, today, according to a recent analysis - 16,000 plastic chemicals, with at least 4,200 of those considered to
be “highly hazardous” to human health and the environment.
As these chemicals break down in the environment, they can
turn into microplastics and then nanoplastics, particles so small
science struggled for decades to see them.
A recent study that utilized brand new technology found the
number of nanoplastics in three popular brands of water sold in the
United States to be in between 110,000 and 370,000 per liter, if not
higher. A liter is the equivalent of about two 16 ounce bottled waters.
(The authors declined to mention which brands of bottled water they
studied.)
Prior research using older technology had identified only
about 300 nanoplastics in bottled water, along with bigger
microplastics.
At least
16,000 plastic chemicals exist with least 4,200 of those considered to
be “highly hazardous” to human health and the environment, a study
found.
Ways to Reduce Plastic
The levels of contamination found in bottled water reinforce
long-held expert advice to drink tap water from glass or stainless
steel containers to reduce exposure, Mason said. That advice extends to
other foods and drinks packaged in plastic as well, she added.
“People don’t think of plastics as shedding but they do,” she said. “In almost the samewaywe’re
constantly shedding skin cells, plastics are constantly shedding little
bits that break off, such as when you open that plastic container for
your store-bought salad or a cheese that’s wrapped in plastic.”
While science learns more about the plastics we consume,
there are things people can do to reduce their exposure, according to
experts.
Try to avoid eating anything that has been stored in a
plastic container. Look for food stored in glass, enamel or foil.
👉 Wear clothing made from natural fabrics and buy consumer products made from natural materials.
👉 Don’t microwave in plastic. Instead, heat food on the stove or by microwaving in glass.
👉 If you can, eat as much fresh food as possible, and limit
purchase of processed and ultraprocessed foods wrapped in plastic.
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“There currently is no scientific consensus on the potential
health impacts of nano- and microplastic particles. Therefore, media
reports based on assumptions and conjecture do nothing more than
unnecessarily scare the public,” a spokesperson for the International
Bottled Water Association, an industry association, told CNN previously. 
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