Microplastics are notoriously pervasive, and Food & Wine highlighted a distressing new finding regarding these tenacious plastic particles and dairy products, particularly cheese.
What's happening?
Since microplastics were first formally identified and named in 2004, extensive research into their prevalence and impacts has been ongoing.
It's often said that microplastics are "in everything," a reasonably accurate statement that nevertheless can make it difficult to consider which parts of "everything" contain them in high concentrations.
Ingestion is one of the most common ways microplastics enter the human body, such as through the consumption of meat or fish containing plastic particulate.
Dairy-based foods — like milk, ice cream, and every form of cheese — were the subject of a study published in the peer-reviewed Nature journal NPJ Science of Food.
This particular research was conducted at the University of Padua in Italy, a country from which many revered cheeses originate, and its findings were disheartening.
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Researchers gathered 28 samples from retail environments in total, among them four milk samples, 10 samples of fresh cheese, and 14 aged cheese samples. They took steps to ensure their testing equipment was checked for microplastics to prevent skewing the results.
Ultimately, 26 of the 28 samples contained microplastics, with polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyethylene, and polypropylene most prevalent.
Moreover, researchers determined there were "significantly more microplastics in cheese than in milk," and that microplastics were most concentrated in aged cheeses at approximately 1,857 particles per kilogram.
Fresh cheese averaged 1,280 particles per kilogram, with milk at 350 particles per kilogram. Based on the plastics identified and their respective concentrations, researchers theorized that food packaging was the likeliest source of microplastics in dairy products.
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Majorly 😥 Why is this study concerning?
Although the risks posed by microplastics are now better known, findings like these underscore how thoroughly this form of pollution has spread.
Microplastics have been detected not just in the air, soil, water, and throughout the food chain, but also in wildlife and in nearly every system in the human body.
Study after study has shown that microplastics, which are often described as "shards," have made their way into human digestive systems, reproductive organs, blood vessels, and even brain tissue.
The authors cited "toxicologic effects," and according to Food & Wine, mentioned "'altered heart rate, cardiac-function impairment, myocardial fibrosis, and endothelial dysfunction,' along with general oxidative stress and inflammation" among health outcomes linked to microplastics.
What can be done about microplastics in food?
This study wasn't the first to peg plastic food wrappers as a pathway for microplastic ingestion.
Avoiding plastic packaging whenever possible can help limit direct exposure to plastic particles in food and in general.
Broadly, using less plastic and swapping your most-used items for plastic-free alternatives also reduces the risk.
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