There has been a lot of hype recently surrounding the presence of plastic in food products. Indeed, the general public are right to be concerned about this topic which can have so many implications for a person’s health and wellbeing; many people struggle to actually understand how bad the level of plastic leftovers is in our food.
So, how bad is the level of plastic leftovers in our food? Are plastic leftovers in our food something to be concerned about, or can we get away with not knowing about the level of plastic in our food? How bad is the situation really?
How Can Plastics end up in our Food?
Many people struggle to understand the concept of plastics ending up in their food. However, when we talk about plastic in our food, we aren’t talking about the kind of plastic that you might get as packaging—not specifically, anyway.
The Microplastic Problem
Instead of referring to large plastic as you might think of it, we are actually talking about microsplastics: tiny fragments of plastic particles, sized under 5mm in length (about the size of a standard sesame seed). Microplastics such as these are formed due to the large amount of pressure placed upon discarded plastics that end up at sea, resulting in tiny fragments breaking off.
Modern scientists now report that the microplastic problem is rapidly getting worse and worse. Indeed, with microplastics now being found in an increasingly large number of food products destined for both human and animal consumption, our own intake of microplastics is rapidly on the rise; through both our diet and the air that we breathe in, we could be drawing as much as 100,000 pieces of microplastics into our bodies on a daily basis! That’s a lot of plastic.
Are Plastic Leftovers in our Food Bad?
Microplastics are responsible for contaminating some of our food, as well as the air that we breathe, and this naturally leaves some people are concerned about health ramifications. Eating plastic doesn’t exactly sound healthy, does it?
While none of us want to be paying a premium price for food products that contain plastic, the biggest concern should naturally be for our health. But what are the dangers?
At present, that actual impacts on our own health of the consumption of these microplastics on such a large scale are not well understood; we have only known about the presence of microplastics in our food and environment for a short period of time, and this means that long term studies into the effects of such a diet have not yet been carried out by the scientific community. However, there are a number of different potential problems associated with the consumption of microplastics, which can include:
- Potential toxicity risks, especially from chemical plastics that are known to pick up and then leach out lead and other nasty chemicals.
- Small plastic fragments can penetrate the delicate linings of the stomach and organs, thereby triggering an immune response—an uncomfortable sensation to say the least, which would also put a person at risk of falling ill to another condition as well.
- Greater disease risk—plastic particles are known to be unhygienic, and consuming plastic particles into your body will likely result in you consuming more bacteria and viruses too, thereby putting your body at risk of getting ill.
Clearly, a microplastic free diet is definitely the way to go—if doing so is possible. Plastic free diets are far better for our environment and, hopefully, our health as well; going plastic free will help you to make the best possible impact on the world that you can! It is important, however, to be aware of the risks of ingesting plastic products in your food so that you can be aware of potential risk factors and the like.