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Microplastics in Foods: An Emerging Food Safety Threat

2023

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This review examined microplastics as an emerging food safety threat, cataloging their presence across food categories including seafood, salt, bottled water, beer, and fresh produce, and reviewing ingestion risks for human consumers. With microplastics now detected in human blood, lungs, and tissues, understanding dietary exposure routes—particularly through processed and packaged foods—is increasingly urgent for public health risk characterization.

The use of plastics has been increasing since World War One. Improper disposal and increased usage of plastics have led to the pileup of plastics in our surroundings. Microplastics (MPs) are small plastic particles of size below 5 mm. They are formed either due...

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