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Human Consumption of Microplastics via Food Type and Habits: Recent Review
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This review documents microplastic contamination across the full food supply chain—from crop production and water pipes through processing, packaging, and home preparation—finding that both processed and unprocessed foods contain MPs, with infants and young children at greatest risk. Modifying household food preparation and consumption behaviors can meaningfully reduce daily MP ingestion, even though complete avoidance is currently impossible.
Plastic is a widely used material in the food area; it is used in the crop field and water pipes for the growth of plants, in food processing, packaging, and distribution of products and beverages, as well as in preparation and consumption at home. However, plastic wears down when used in all these processes, releasing tiny particles, denominate microplastics (MP), that mix with food, drinkable water, and other beverages before or during consumption. This review discusses recent findings of MP contamination in non–processed and processed food, and water, as well as the possible sources. The risks to human health associated with the consumption of MP and their effect on its metabolism are detailed. Some recommendations are made to reduce exposure to MP related to food practices, and some social behavior patterns that influence food–buying decisions are analyzed. The consumption of MP from food and water affects the entire population since a large part of the products and water contain them due to the practices used for their production and processing. However, the number of MP ingested daily can be reduced if consumption and behavior patterns are considered and modified at home when preparing food. Awareness of the health problems that MP consumption can cause is essential for the entire population since, unfortunately, no one is exempt from MP; infants and young children are the most at risk.
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Human Exposure to Dietary Microplastics and Health Risk: A Comprehensive Review
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This comprehensive review examines human dietary exposure to microplastics through bottled water, seafood, packaged foods, and crops grown in plastic-mulched soils, cataloging toxicity mechanisms including immune disruption, gastrointestinal damage, and developmental cytotoxicity, with MPs shown to transfer via placenta and breast milk. The multi-pathway exposure evidence reviewed here highlights that microplastic ingestion is a universal human experience beginning before birth, with plausible health consequences that demand urgent investment in mechanistic in vivo research.
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Researchers reviewed how microplastics and nanoplastics enter the human body through food and drink, finding that the tiniest particles likely penetrate the gut lining and enter tissues in ways similar to drug-delivery nanoparticles. This raises significant concerns about long-term health effects from everyday dietary exposure to plastic contamination.
Deciphering potential implications of dietary microplastics for human health
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Researchers evaluated a World Health Organization report on dietary exposure to nano- and microplastics, concluding that while humans are clearly ingesting these particles through food and beverages, convincing evidence of adverse health effects remains elusive due to major detection and data gaps.
Food chain microplastics contamination and impact on human health: a review
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This review synthesizes evidence on microplastic transfer through the food chain—spanning seafood, food additives, packaging, and agricultural products—and documents human health impacts including cancer, organ damage, and reproductive impairment. Microplastics are nearly impossible to excrete once absorbed into the circulatory system, making dietary exposure a critical and underappreciated public health concern.
Microplastics in Human Food Items
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Researchers documented the widespread presence of microplastics across the human food supply — found in seafood, salt, honey, beer, and tap water — highlighting that virtually no food category is free from plastic contamination and that daily dietary exposure is unavoidable.
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