The holiday dinner many are looking forward to this season could come with an unexpected ingredient鈥� plastic.
That鈥檚 because a new study publishedfrom researchers at the University of Portsmouth in England has found that a roast dinner can contain a 鈥渟taggering鈥� number of microplastics.
Microplastic particles are plastics that are smaller than five millimetres in size, according to a press release from the school.
The university鈥檚 study explored whether meal ingredients packaged in plastic would result in more microplastic particles found in the food items
Fay Couceiro, a reader in biochemistry and environmental pollution at the university, conducted the small study by examining two separate roast dinners. Both dinners contained chicken, potatoes, carrots, broccoli, and yorkshire pudding, but one meal was made with ingredients that had been bought wrapped in plastic, while the other was not.
The food made from the plastic-wrapped items contained 鈥渟even times more microplastics than the non-plastic wrapped one,鈥� according to the university鈥檚press release about the study鈥檚 findings. In total, about 230,000 microplastic particles were found.
This indicates that 鈥減lastic packaging is a major route for plastics getting into our bodies,鈥� the release states. Eating one plastic-wrapped dinner each day would amount to about two plastic bags consumed each year, according to the research.
鈥淔rom the results it would appear that the majority of microplastics in our food come from the plastic packaging it is wrapped in. However, there are other ways that plastic can enter the food chain. It could be getting into the vegetables through the soil or into our meat through grazing,鈥� said Couceiro in the press release.
She also said that air contains microplastics as well, so 鈥渢hey could be falling on top of the food.鈥� As well, the plastics could be coming from the cooking utensils also used when preparing a meal, she explained.
This study differs from the findings of others,as researchers examined what was on the plate after the food had been cooked, as opposed to analyzing raw ingredients in a lab, she said.
鈥淚t is likely the microplastics will come from a combination of within the food, the packaging, the cooking utensils and the air,鈥� she said.
Professor Shaji Sebastian, a consultant gastroenterologist at Hull University Teaching Hospital in England said in the press release the results of the study are surprising and indicates research into microplastics should be 鈥渦rgent鈥�.
鈥淭he key is to understand, what are microplastics doing to the body? Do they go to the organs?,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hose are critical questions that need to be looked into,鈥漢e said.
A review from academics in Italy explained that the implications of microplastics on the human body are not yet thoroughly understood.
The researchers found that the intake of microplastics by humans has been well-established. However, only plastics smaller than 20 micrometres would be able to penetrate organs, and particles would have to be 10 micrometres or less to access all organs and the brain. Ten micrometres is about the diameter of a human blood cell.
However, found that microplastics can cause damage to human cells in the laboratory at levels that are considered normal for people to ingest through their food. But the health impact remains unclear, as researchers are unsure how long plastics remain in the body before they exit through waste.
