Papers

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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 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

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

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

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

Micro (nano) plastic pollution: The ecological influence on soil-plant system and human health.

This review examines how micro- and nanoplastics affect soil health, plant growth, and food quality, finding that these particles accumulate in plant root systems and can reduce crop yields and alter nutritional content. Since contaminated soil and water are increasingly delivering microplastics to food crops, these findings are directly relevant to agricultural food safety.

2021 The Science of the total environment
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-induced stress in plants: uptake, physiological disruption, and toxicity mechanisms

This review paper summarizes existing research on how tiny plastic particles (called microplastics and nanoplastics) are absorbed by plants and damage their health. These plastic particles can build up in plant tissues and disrupt how plants grow and function, which matters because we eat these plants. Since plastic pollution keeps breaking down into smaller pieces that plants absorb, this could eventually affect the safety and quality of our food supply.

2026 Frontiers in Plant Science
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

How do nanoplastics hijack crop physiology: A review of uptake pathways and agricultural sustainability implications

This research review summarizes how tiny plastic particles called nanoplastics can get inside crop plants through their roots and leaves, potentially harming how plants grow and produce food. These ultra-small plastic pieces interfere with how plants absorb nutrients and respond to stress, which could threaten our food supply. Since we eat these crops, understanding how nanoplastics affect plant health is important for protecting both agriculture and human health.

2026 Plant Physiology and Biochemistry
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

The hidden impacts of micro/nanoplastics on soil, crop and human health

This review examines the chain of impacts from micro- and nanoplastics in soil through crop uptake to potential human health effects. Researchers found that these tiny particles can stick to plant roots, enter crop tissues, and carry toxic chemicals along with them. The study highlights that this soil-to-plate pathway is still poorly understood and calls for more research into how agricultural microplastic contamination may affect the food we eat.

2023 Journal of Agriculture and Food Research 22 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 and plant health: a comprehensive review of sources, distribution, toxicity, and remediation

This review summarizes how microplastics enter soil from agricultural films, sewage sludge, textiles, and cosmetics, then get absorbed by plant roots and transported to edible parts, posing risks to food safety. Exposure to microplastics causes oxidative stress, genetic damage, and disrupts photosynthesis in plants, while also carrying heavy metals and pathogens deeper into the food chain.

2025 npj Emerging Contaminants 37 citations
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

Micro and nanoplastics pollution: Sources, distribution, uptake in plants, toxicological effects, and innovative remediation strategies for environmental sustainability

This review examines how microplastics and nanoplastics enter plants through roots, disrupt growth and photosynthesis, and cause oxidative stress that reduces crop yields. Because these plastic particles can move through plant tissues and into edible parts, they represent a potential pathway for microplastics to enter the human food supply.

2024 Plant Physiology and Biochemistry 62 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and Their Effect in Horticultural Crops: Food Safety and Plant Stress

This review examined how microplastics and nanoplastics accumulate in agricultural soils and enter the food chain through edible plants and animals, concluding that plastic contamination represents a multi-pathway food safety risk requiring coordinated regulatory and agronomic responses.

2021 Agronomy 44 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

Recent advances on microplastics/nanoplastics interaction with plant species: A concise review

This review synthesizes research on how microplastics and nanoplastics interact with plants, finding that plastic particles in soil can interfere with root uptake, germination, and crop yields depending on the type and concentration of plastic present. The findings are particularly relevant to human health because food crops grown in microplastic-contaminated agricultural soils may absorb or accumulate plastic particles, creating a direct dietary exposure route.

2023 Malaysian Journal of Chemical Engineering and Technology
Meta Analysis Tier 1

Microplastic and Nanoplastic in Crops: Possible Adverse Effects to Crop Production and Contaminant Transfer in the Food Chain

This meta-analysis found that nanoplastics can be taken up by plant roots and transferred to the parts we eat, while also reducing crop yields. This means microplastic pollution in agricultural soil could affect both food safety and food production, creating a dual concern for human health.

2024 Plants 28 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

Microplastic/nanoplastic toxicity in plants: an imminent concern

This review examines the growing body of research on how microplastics and nanoplastics affect terrestrial plants, from root uptake to changes in growth and gene expression. Researchers found that these particles can alter plant physiology and biochemistry at varying degrees depending on particle size and concentration. The study calls for more research on how plastic contamination in soil may ultimately affect food crop quality and human health through the food chain.

2022 Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 182 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and nanoplastics in the soil-plant nexus: Sources, uptake, and toxicity

This review examines how microplastics and nanoplastics accumulate in agricultural soils from plastic products and affect the soil-plant system. Researchers found that nanoplastics can be taken up by plant roots, cause oxidative stress, and negatively affect crop growth. The findings raise concerns about food safety since these particles may carry co-contaminants into the food chain.

2023 Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology 51 citations
Article Tier 2

Research Progress on the Mechanisms of Terrestrial Plant Uptake, Transport, and Growth Inhibition Responses to Micro (nano) Plastics

This review synthesizes current research on how terrestrial plants take up micro- and nanoplastics from contaminated soil, finding that particles can enter through roots, accumulate in plant tissues, block root function, and trigger oxidative damage that stunts growth. These pathways mean that food crops grown in microplastic-contaminated soils could expose humans to plastic particles through the diet, in addition to the harm caused to agricultural productivity.

2024 Preprints.org 3 citations