Analysis of microplastics in various foods and assessment of aggregate human exposure via food consumption in korea.
Environ Pollut
; 322: 121153, 2023 Apr 01.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-36709032
ABSTRACT
Evidence of microplastics in humans has recently been demonstrated. The primary route of human exposure to microplastics is consumption of contaminated food and water. However, quantitative estimations of exposure to microplastics are limited, which hinders human health risk assessments. In this study, abundances of microplastics were measured in eight food types, comprising 90 products of table salts, soy sauces, fish sauces, salted seafood, seaweed, honey, beer, and beverage. Aggregate human exposure to microplastics via food consumption was assessed based on the number and mass of microplastics, using deterministic calculations and Monte Carlo simulations. The determinations revealed that average adult Koreans likely ingest 1.4 × 10-4 and 3.1 × 10-4 g of microplastics per week, respectively. These results are orders of magnitude smaller than earlier estimates of 0.1-5 g of microplastics per week that likely chose experimental outliers. Therefore, careful selection of literature data and estimation methods is needed to provide more realistic exposure estimations from microplastic counts. This study extends our understanding of MP occurrence in food and provides a more thorough estimate of aggregate microplastic exposure via food consumption.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Water Pollutants, Chemical
/
Microplastics
Type of study:
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Animals
/
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
En
Journal:
Environ Pollut
Journal subject:
SAUDE AMBIENTAL
Year:
2023
Document type:
Article