Toxic Effect of Food-Borne Microplastics on Human Health

Microplastics (MPs) are defined as an assorted combination of plastic particles less than 5 mm having shapes such as fragments, fibers, spheroids, granules, pellets, flakes, or beads. Recent health risk assessment reports have revealed that an individual consumes nearly thousands of MP particles yearly through foods such as drinking water, salt, sugar, fish, tea, milk, etc., which is alarming for human health. This chapter is aimed at reviewing the health effects of microplastic ingestion through food. Cytotoxicity, oxidative stress, translocation through the circulatory system, inflammation, disruption in metabolism, neurotoxicity, and reproductive toxicity are the major human health impacts associated with MP consumption. The entering of MPs through the human food chain and possible sources of MP contamination in foods have been highlighted, followed by a brief description of biological findings among several organs that has also been explained here. The use of bio-degradable plastics in food packaging can be considered a suitable way to minimize microplastics at present.