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Mechanical Grinding of Spices in Grinders with Polymeric Burrs and Transfer of Microplastics to Food

Health Problems of Civilization 2024 4 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count. Score: 45 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.
Łukasz Zbucki, Ewa Plażuk

Summary

Polish researchers investigated whether grinding spices in plastic-burred mills transfers microplastics to food, finding that polymer particles from grinder components can contaminate spices during mechanical processing.

Wprowadzenie W obecnych czasach badacze alarmują, że nasze codzienne produkty spożywcze mogą być zanieczyszczone tworzywami sztucznymi, towarzyszącymi procesowi przetwarzania i pakowania. Plastikowe polimery i szkodliwe dodatki chemiczne, takie jak: plastyfikatory, barwniki lub modyfikatory, mogą przedostawać się wraz z żywnością do naszego organizmu w postaci cząstek mikroplastiku i powodować szkody dla zdrowia ludzkiego. Ocena ryzyka obecności mikroplastiku w produktach spożywczych jest wciąż na wczesnym etapie ze względu na niejednolitość badań i metodologii. Materiał i metody W niniejszym badaniach analizowano ścieranie cząstek plastiku z kilku różnych młynków do soli himalajskiej i pieprzu czarnego z żarnami wykonanymi z polimerów przy użyciu technik FT-IR i SEM. Wyniki Przeprowadzone badania potwierdzają wpływ wykorzystanych polimerów na ilość uwalnianego mikroplastiku jak i tempo zużycia żarna młynków od mielonej przyprawy. Wnioski Określenie wpływu wykorzystania tego typu urządzeń na zdrowie człowieka wymaga jednak prowadzenia dalszych badań.

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