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You Are What You Eat: Microplastics, One Health, and Our Global Food System
Summary
Tiny plastic particles called microplastics and nanoplastics—created as plastic breaks down—have worked their way into nearly every part of our food supply, from crops and livestock to seafood and drinking water, meaning most of us are eating and drinking plastic regularly without realizing it. This review pulls together existing research to show that these particles can also carry other harmful chemicals with them, but scientists still lack clear guidelines, reliable testing methods, and international policies to protect people from this exposure. The takeaway: plastic pollution isn't just an environmental issue—it's quietly becoming a food safety and health issue that urgently
Despite societal benefits derived from the many uses of plastics in our daily lives, plastic pollution has become another One Health crisis that has resulted in microplastic (MP) and nanoplastic (NP) contamination of all aspects of our global food production system and requires urgent attention. According to Plastic Europe, 99% of all plastics are made from fossil fuels but only 9% are recycled, which has created a major environmental injustice problem associated with geographic disparities for disposal. Plastic polymers slowly degrade to MPs and NPs in the environment and adsorb and transport other toxic environmental contaminants that compound their detrimental effects on all components of ecosystems and human health. Our global food system represents the culmination of MP contamination in the environment and is the major route of human exposure to MPs and NPs, but there are no comprehensive guidelines to avoid unhealthy consumption of contaminated food and drinking water; numerous analytical, data interpretation, and risk assessment challenges; and no international treaties to end plastic pollution. This comprehensive review is intended to provide a synthesis of disparate threads of vast amounts of scientific information across multiple disciplines to improve our understanding and action for addressing this complex One Health problem.