Papers

20 results
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Article Tier 2

Microplastic Uptake in Vegetables: Sources, Mechanisms, Transport and Food Safety

This review summarizes current knowledge on how microplastics enter vegetables through soil, water, and air, and how they are transported within plant tissues. Researchers found that microplastics can be taken up through roots and move to edible parts, with uptake varying by plant species, particle size, and soil conditions. The findings highlight that vegetable consumption may be an important but underrecognized pathway for human microplastic exposure.

2025 Toxics 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Micro- and Nanoplastics in Agroecosystems: Plant Uptake, Food Safety, and Implications for Human Health

This review of existing research shows that tiny plastic particles are getting into our food crops through contaminated soil and air, causing stress and damage to the plants. These microplastics have been found in the parts of vegetables we actually eat - including leafy greens, root vegetables, and fruits - which means people may be consuming them in their daily diet. However, scientists still don't fully understand how much plastic we're eating or what the long-term health effects might be.

2026 Sustainability
Article Tier 2

Assessing the impact of micro and nanoplastics on the productivity of vegetable crops in terrestrial horticulture: a comprehensive review

This review summarizes research on how micro and nanoplastics accumulate in farmland and get absorbed by vegetable crops through their roots, building up in the edible parts of the plants. The plastic particles cause toxic effects that stunt plant growth by disrupting cellular processes and gene activity. This means the vegetables people eat may contain microplastics picked up from contaminated soil.

2025 Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Uptake and bioaccumulation of microplastics by plants: Exploring impacts and remediation potential in terrestrial and aquatic environment

This review examined how plants take up and accumulate microplastics from contaminated soil, finding that plastics can disrupt soil microbial communities, reduce nutrient availability, and impair plant growth. The uptake of microplastics by edible crops raises concerns about food chain transfer to humans, since the particles can carry toxic pollutants like persistent organic compounds and heavy metals.

2025 Chemosphere 2 citations
Article Tier 2

A critical review on microplastics in edible fruits and vegetables: A threat to human health

This review examines the growing evidence that microplastics are present in edible fruits and vegetables, having been taken up from contaminated soils and irrigation water. Researchers found that agricultural practices like plastic mulching and the use of treated wastewater for irrigation are major contributors to crop contamination. The study raises concerns about dietary microplastic exposure through plant-based foods, which have received less attention than seafood in pollution research.

2024 Multidisciplinary Reviews 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Uptake and transport of micro/nanoplastics in terrestrial plants: Detection, mechanisms, and influencing factors

This review summarizes how micro and nanoplastics enter and move through plants, including uptake through roots and leaves via processes like endocytosis and movement through cell walls. Smaller particles penetrate more easily, and factors like surface charge and soil conditions affect how much plastic plants absorb. The findings are important because they show that crops can take up microplastics from contaminated soil, creating a potential pathway for these particles to reach the human diet.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 166 citations
Article Tier 2

From Soil to Table: Pathways, Influencing Factors, and Human Health Risks of Micro- and Nanoplastic Uptake by Plants in Terrestrial Ecosystems

This review traces the pathways by which micro- and nanoplastics move from soil into food crops in terrestrial ecosystems. Researchers found that plants absorb these particles through roots and atmospheric deposition, with adverse effects on plant growth and development, raising concerns about food chain contamination and human health risks from consuming affected crops.

2026 Microplastics
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in the agricultural soils: Pollution behavior and subsequent effects

This review summarizes existing research on how microplastics accumulate in farmland through fertilizers, irrigation, plastic mulch, and atmospheric fallout. Microplastics change soil structure, harm beneficial microbes, and can be taken up by crops, moving through the food chain to humans. The authors emphasize that more research is needed to understand the long-term health risks of eating food grown in microplastic-contaminated soil.

2024 Land Degradation and Development 18 citations
Article Tier 2

Micro and nanoplastics as emerging stressors influencing plant metabolism and nutrient dynamics

This review of existing research shows that tiny plastic particles in farm soil can get inside plants and change how they grow and absorb nutrients. When plants take up these microplastics, it could affect the nutritional quality of the fruits and vegetables we eat, potentially impacting our food safety. However, scientists still need more long-term studies to fully understand how serious this threat is to our food supply and health.

2026 International Journal of Phytoremediation
Systematic Review Tier 1

A Systematic Review on Emission, Accumulation, Mechanism, and Toxicity Perspective of Micro‐Nanoplastics in the Soil–Plant Nexus

This systematic review examines how micro- and nanoplastics enter soil, accumulate in plants, and move through the soil-plant system. The research shows that microplastics alter soil properties, affect plant growth, and can be taken up by crop roots and transported to edible plant parts. This is a direct concern for human health because it means microplastics in agricultural soil may end up in the fruits and vegetables people consume.

2025 Land Degradation and Development
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Soil–Plant Systems: Current Knowledge, Research Gaps, and Future Directions for Agricultural Sustainability

This review summarizes current knowledge about how microplastics affect agricultural soils and the plants growing in them, including changes to soil structure, nutrient availability, and root zone biology. Understanding how microplastics move through the soil-plant system is critical because contaminated crops are a major pathway for these particles to reach the human diet.

2025 Agronomy 19 citations
Review Tier 2

Uptake and Accumulation of Nano/Microplastics in Plants: A Critical Review

This review summarizes the latest research on how microplastics and nanoplastics are taken up by food crops through roots and leaves. Nanoplastics can penetrate plant cell walls more easily than larger microplastics, and the water-pulling force of transpiration is the main driver moving particles up through the plant. These findings are important for food safety because they confirm that plastic particles in contaminated soil can end up inside the fruits and vegetables people eat.

2021 Nanomaterials 394 citations
Article Tier 2

Food safety risks from soil-borne microplastics and antibiotic resistance across vegetable production and consumption pathways

This review examines how microplastics enter agricultural systems through plastic mulch degradation, wastewater irrigation, and organic amendments, and subsequently translocate into plant tissues. The study highlights that microplastics can also carry antibiotic resistance genes that persist through the food chain into human digestion, raising concerns about food safety from soil-borne microplastic contamination.

2025 International Journal of Phytoremediation 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Absorption of microplastics by terrestrial plants and their ecological risk

This review describes how microplastics enter terrestrial plants through both root systems in soil and leaf surfaces from airborne particles, and how they accumulate within plant tissues. Researchers discuss the direct physical damage from the plastic particles as well as the toxicity of chemical additives like plasticizers and UV stabilizers. The findings raise concerns about food safety, since microplastics absorbed by crop plants could enter human diets through the food chain.

2025 New Contaminants 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics interaction with terrestrial plants and their impacts on agriculture

This review summarizes what is known about how microplastics interact with terrestrial plants, including how they are taken up, transported through plant tissues, and affect growth and agricultural productivity. Researchers note that while marine microplastic research is extensive, studies on soil ecosystems and crop impacts remain limited. The study highlights the need for more research on how microplastics in agricultural soils may ultimately affect food safety and human health.

2021 Journal of Environmental Quality 114 citations
Article Tier 2

Accumulation of plastics in terrestrial crop plants and its impact on the plant growth

This review examines how small plastic particles accumulate in crop plants and affect plant growth, finding that microplastics can enter plant tissues and disrupt physiological processes. Crops grown in microplastic-contaminated soil could carry plastic particles into the food supply, raising concerns about dietary exposure.

2021 Journal of Applied Biology & Biotechnology 9 citations
Article Tier 2

Food Plants and Environmental Contamination: An Update

This review examines how food plants absorb contaminants from polluted environments, including heavy metals, pesticides, and microplastics. Microplastics have been found in the roots, leaves, and fruits of food crops, creating a direct pathway for human exposure through diet. The authors discuss both traditional and new technologies for reducing contamination in food production, highlighting the need for soil and water monitoring to ensure food safety.

2024 Toxics 14 citations
Review Tier 2

Micro and nano plastics in fruits and vegetables: A review.

This review examined how microplastics contaminate fruits and vegetables through root uptake, surface adhesion, and irrigation water, covering analytical methods for detection and highlighting the role of plants as an underappreciated entry point for plastics into the human food chain.

2024 Heliyon
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in soil—uptake, fate, transport, and effect on the growth of plants

This review examines the mechanisms by which microplastics enter soil through agricultural practices, climate events, and soil organism activity, and summarizes current evidence on plant uptake -- driven primarily by transpiration pull -- and translocation of plastic particles through plant tissues. The authors identify significant knowledge gaps regarding long-term soil microplastic behavior and ecological effects on plant growth and nutritional quality.

2024 Microplastics 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Behavior of Microplastics and Nanoplasticsin Farmland Soil Environment and Mechanismsof Interaction with Plants

This review summarizes how microplastics and nanoplastics behave in farmland soil and how they interact with crop plants. Nanoplastics are especially concerning because they can travel through plant roots and move via internal transport systems to reach leaves, fruits, and even seeds. The review highlights that microplastic-contaminated soil could lead to plastic particles entering the human food chain through the crops we eat, though more long-term studies are needed to fully understand the risks.

2024 Polish Journal of Environmental Studies 10 citations