A recent study found a whole plastic spoon’s worth of tiny plastic shards in human brain tissue. Pretty wild, right? Some researchers have estimated that people consume between 39,000 and 52,000 microplastic particles each year. If we add how much we take in when breathing, that number goes up to 74,000 to 121,000.
Microplastics aren’t something we can outrun. They’re in our water, our clothes and our kitchens. Experts have also found them in the foods we eat. OK, that sounds bad, but how bad is it?
“There is no officially established ‘safe’ or ‘unsafe’ level of microplastic intake. It makes sense to want your exposure to be as low as possible,” Dr. Joseph Mercola, a board-certified family medicine osteopathic physician, said in an email.
Microplastics can enter our food due to contamination where the food was grown, raised or processed. Mercola explained that the use of plastic mulch and plastic seed coatings in agriculture, and irrigation with contaminated water, are among the various ways microplastics can end up in food. Plastic packaging, utensils and containers are additional sources.
According to the US Food and Drug Administration, current evidence doesn’t suggest that the levels of microplastics in food are a risk to us. That said, you may still want to take a few easy steps to minimize the amount of microplastics you consume. Read on to learn the most common foods that contain microplastics, and some measures you can adopt to cut down on your plastic intake.
Top 10 foods in your diet that contain microplastics
Seafood
One of the most significant ways plastic particles end up in our food is through single-use plastics that break down and find their way into waterways and soil. When they reach the oceans, they end up in our seafood.
“Microplastics are then taken up by plankton and mistaken for food by fish and selfish,” Mercola said. “The tiny particles accumulate in the flesh … then end up on our plates.”
A recent study published by Portland State University discovered a variety of microplastics in 180 out of 182 tested seafood samples. Microfibers are the most common type of microplastic present, but this isn’t the only type that ends up in our oceans.
