Preliminary characterization of microplastics in beef hamburgers.
Meat Sci
; 217: 109626, 2024 Nov.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-39137452
ABSTRACT
The diffusion of microplastics in meat products is an emerging topic, as their impact on animal and human health is still largely unknown. The present study aimed to preliminarily determine the number and the quality of microplastics diffusion in beef hamburgers (n = 10) through Fourier-transformed infrared micro-spectroscopy in attenuated total reflectance mode analysis. Microplastics were detected in all analyzed samples. The abundance of microplastics ranged from 200.00 to 30,300.00 MP/kg. Microplastics observed in the analyzed samples were mainly characterized by irregular shapes (95.99%), grey color (70.16%), and dimensions comprised between 51 and 100 µm (57.46%). Eighteen different polymers were detected, with polycarbonate (30,300.00 MP/kg), polyethylene (1580.00 MP/kg) and polypropylene (750.00 MP/kg) being the most abundant classes. Results demonstrate an extensive diffusion of microplastics in the analyzed samples, which may be originated from various sources, including animal body, industrial processing, and packaging. Findings from this study will aid in pinpointing the source of microplastics contamination, enabling the creation of targeted guidelines to mitigate microplastics spread in processed meat food.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Food Contamination
/
Microplastics
Limits:
Animals
Language:
En
Journal:
Meat Sci
Journal subject:
CIENCIAS DA NUTRICAO
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Italy
Country of publication:
United kingdom