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A recent study shows that the consumption of ready meals and highly processed foods increases the intake of microplastics, while the use of plastic cooking utensils and containers makes no significant difference.
Experts from the Federal Environment Agency in Vienna have found that eating ready meals and highly processed foods leads to a significantly higher intake of microplastics than eating freshly prepared food. However, storing food in plastic boxes and using plastic cooking spoons, for example, has no discernible effect on the amount of plastic that enters the body, they report in the journal “Science of The Total Environment”.
Diet changed for experiment on microplastic consumption
A team led by Christina Hartmann (Federal Environment Agency) asked 15 people (from Vienna and the surrounding area, aged between 24 and 43) to change their cooking and eating habits in a very special way for a good two weeks: they were asked to eat some dishes that had come into contact with as much plastic as possible, i.e. were wrapped in plastic film and prepared with plastic kitchen utensils. Then, for a few consecutive days, the study participants were instructed not to allow any plastic to come into contact with their food, but to use glass containers and stainless steel cooking utensils, for example. They also kept a diary of the food they ate, its packaging and preparation and gave stool samples to the Federal Environment Agency laboratory.
The experts always found microplastic particles there. On average, there were three to four particles per gram of stool. They were most frequently made of polyethylene (PE) and PET. “PE is the most commonly used type of plastic worldwide and is used in particular for food packaging,” they explained to APA: ”PET is also used for food packaging and many other consumer products such as textiles.”
Degree of food processing influences microplastic uptake
“A significant difference between plastic-preferring and plastic-avoiding diets could not be clearly established”, the experts said: ‘However, it was shown that the degree of processing of the food plays a relevant role’. The more processed the food they ate, the higher the microplastic concentrations in their stools. A larger-scale study should now clarify the clear links between the degree of food processing and microplastic intake.
- source: APA/picture:
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