Papers

20 results
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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

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

This review gathered current knowledge on how microplastics enter agricultural soils and get taken up by vegetable crops, which are a major part of the human diet. Researchers found that microplastics can be absorbed through plant roots and transported to edible parts, with uptake influenced by particle size, plastic type, and soil conditions. The study highlights the need for more research on how microplastic contamination in food crops could affect human health and food safety.

2025 Preprints.org 2 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

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

Nanoplastics and Microplastics in Agricultural Systems: Effects on Plants and Implications for Human Consumption

This review summarizes existing research on how nanoplastics and microplastics enter agricultural soil through irrigation, plastic mulch, and sewage sludge, then accumulate in crops that people eat. The particles can also carry other harmful substances like pesticides and heavy metals into plants, raising concerns about long-term health effects from chronic dietary exposure.

2025 Microplastics 12 citations
Article Tier 2

Assessment of Microplastics Pollution on Soil Health and Eco-toxicological Risk in Horticulture

This review examines microplastic pollution in horticultural soils and its effects on soil health, crops, and associated eco-toxicological risks. Researchers found that microplastics enter the food chain through edible fruit crops, presenting a multifactorial food safety concern that requires strategic approaches to monitoring and mitigation in agricultural systems.

2023 Soil Systems 19 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

Vegetable-Borne Microplastics: Evidence, Uncertainties, and a Research Agenda for Food-Chain Risk Assessment

This review study summarizes what we know about tiny plastic particles (called microplastics) that can end up in the vegetables we eat through contaminated water, air pollution, and plastic farming materials. Scientists are concerned these plastic particles might harm both plants and human health, but we don't yet have enough research to know the full risks. The researchers say we need better ways to detect these plastics in food and more studies to understand how dangerous they might be for people who eat contaminated vegetables.

2026 Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Article Tier 2

Microplastics supply contaminants in food chain: non-negligible threat to health safety

This review examines how microplastics in the food chain can carry and concentrate organic pollutants like pesticides and industrial chemicals, making them more dangerous together than either would be alone. Microplastics accumulate on the surfaces of fruits and vegetables and can build up through the food web. The combined effect of microplastics and the toxic chemicals they carry poses a growing but still poorly understood threat to food safety and human health.

2024 Environmental Geochemistry and Health 19 citations
Article Tier 2

Micro/Nanoplastics in plantation agricultural products: behavior process, phytotoxicity under biotic and abiotic stresses, and controlling strategies

This review examines how microplastics and nanoplastics from sources like plastic mulch and wastewater contaminate agricultural crops, harming plant growth, photosynthesis, and food quality. The findings matter for human health because these plastic particles can accumulate in the fruits and vegetables we eat, carrying toxic chemicals along with them into our diet.

2025 Journal of Nanobiotechnology 16 citations
Article Tier 2

Impacts of microplastics on terrestrial plants: A critical review

This review examines how microplastics affect land-based plants, finding that they can alter soil structure, disrupt beneficial soil microbes, and reduce plant growth. Microplastics also carry toxic chemicals like plasticizers and heavy metals that can be taken up by plant roots and enter the food chain. The findings raise concerns about human health since contaminated crops could be a hidden source of microplastic and chemical exposure in our diets.

2024 Land Degradation and Development 23 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Agricultural Soils: An Emerging Threat to Soil Health, Microbial Ecology, Crop Productivity, and Food Safety

This review examines how microplastics accumulate in agricultural soils from sources like plastic mulch, sewage sludge, and atmospheric deposition. Researchers found that these particles can disrupt soil microbial communities, harm plant health, and potentially enter the human food chain. The study highlights the urgent need for mitigation strategies to address this growing but often overlooked form of pollution in farmland.

2025 International Journal of Plant & Soil Science 4 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
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

Microplastics in Agriculture- a Review

This review examines the growing presence of microplastics in agricultural environments, covering their sources from plastic mulch films and irrigation water, their effects on soil health and crop quality, and the implications for food safety and sustainable agriculture.

2025 International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research
Review Tier 2

Microplastic contamination in the agricultural soil—mitigation strategies, heavy metals contamination, and impact on human health: a review

This review examines how microplastics contaminate agricultural soil through plastic mulch, irrigation water, and fertilizers, then alter soil chemistry, harm beneficial microorganisms, and reduce crop productivity. The authors highlight that microplastics can accumulate in crops and enter the human food chain, posing risks to food safety and human health, particularly through daily food and water consumption.

2024 Plant Cell Reports 81 citations
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

Evidence of microplastic accumulation on the surface of lettuce and analysis of contamination sources

Researchers found microplastics on the surface of lettuce grown in real agricultural conditions and traced the contamination to both airborne particles and pesticide sprays. The pesticide application process was identified as a significant but previously overlooked source of microplastics on vegetable surfaces. This study is relevant to human health because it shows that even washed fresh produce may carry microplastics from multiple sources during the growing process.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials 8 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

Microplastics in Edible Plants: an Underestimated Risk in the Human Food Chain

This systematic review found that microplastics are being absorbed by food crops including lettuce, rice, wheat, and tomatoes, especially when grown in contaminated soil or irrigated with polluted water. Concentrations up to 3 micrograms per gram have been found in rice, meaning people may be consuming microplastics through plant-based foods without knowing it.

2025 Journal of Biological Research - Bollettino della Società Italiana di Biologia Sperimentale
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