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Microplastics, PFAS, and Pharmaceutical Residues as Emerging Contaminants in the Global Food Chain
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This chapter reviews how microplastics, PFAS, and pharmaceutical residues enter the global food chain through industrial discharge, agricultural practices, and environmental runoff, emphasising their persistence and bioaccumulation. It evaluates the human health implications and regulatory challenges of managing these co-occurring emerging contaminants.
Emerging chemical contaminants, including microplastics, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and pharmaceutical residues, pose escalating, multi-pathway threats to global food security. Their environmental persistence, bioaccumulation potential, and association with significant human health risks demand urgent attention. This chapter synthesizes critical findings on contaminant entry routes into the food chain spanning industrial discharge, agricultural practices, environmental runoff, food packaging, and wastewater reuse, revealing complex exposure pathways across diverse food commodities. Crucially, it underscores the indispensable role of advanced analytical methodologies, particularly mass spectrometry and chromatography, in detecting and quantifying these complex contaminants within food matrices. The evaluation exposes significant limitations in current mitigation strategies and regulatory frameworks, highlighting pervasive knowledge gaps. The analysis culminates in advocating for proactive, integrated food safety governance policies that bridge scientific understanding, strengthen regulatory harmonization, drive technological innovation, and foster interdisciplinary collaboration. These recommendations are crucial for developing resilient food systems against emerging chemical threats.
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Invisible Threats on the Plate
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This paper reviews three categories of emerging food contaminants—microplastics, PFAS, and pharmaceutical residues—examining their sources, detection methods, and health risks, and highlighting the inadequacy of current food safety regulations in addressing these invisible threats.
Emerging and Persistent Food Contaminants: A Decade Review of Their Health Risks and Mitigation Strategies
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This decade-long narrative review synthesized evidence on emerging and persistent food contaminants including heavy metals, pesticides, mycotoxins, microplastics, pharmaceuticals, and endocrine-disrupting chemicals. Microplastics emerged as a growing concern across the food chain, with evidence accumulating for systemic health effects via ingestion of contaminated food and water.
Occurrence and Fate of Emerging Contaminants with Microplastics Current Scenario, Sources and Effects
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This review chapter covers the current state of microplastic contamination across marine and terrestrial environments, explaining how microplastics act as vectors for other pollutants — including pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and heavy metals — that accumulate on their surfaces. These contaminant-laden particles are consumed by marine organisms and travel up the food chain, reaching human food sources. The work underscores that microplastics are not just a physical hazard but also a chemical delivery system that amplifies the toxic burden on ecosystems and people.
Current scenario of emerging pollutants in farmlands and water reservoirs: Prospects and challenges
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This review looks at how pollutants like microplastics and pharmaceutical residues end up in farmland and water supplies, with global plastic production exceeding 400 million metric tons per year. The authors warn that these contaminants can enter the food chain through soil and water, potentially affecting human health, and call for better monitoring and cleanup strategies.
Invisible Threats in Food Systems: Emerging Contaminants, Exposure Pathways and Safety Concerns
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This study examined the resilience of anaerobic digestion processes to microplastic contamination, assessing whether plastic particles affect methane production and microbial community function. Results indicate that anaerobic digesters can tolerate certain microplastic loads but may experience reduced efficiency at higher concentrations.
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When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.