Presence of microplastics and nanoplastics in food, with particular focus on seafood

Heather Wallace; Alexander Jan; Lars Barregård; Margherita Bignami; Sandra Ceccatelli; Bruce Cottrill; Michael Dinovi; Lutz Edler; Bettina  Grasl-Kraupp; Christer  Hogstrand; Laurentius (Ron)  Hoogenboom; Helle Katrine  Knutsen; Carlo Stefano  Nebbia; Isabelle  Oswald; Annette  Petersen; Vera Maria Rogiers; Martin  Rose; Alain-Claude  Roudot; Tanja  Schwerdtle; Christiane  Vleminckx; Günter  Vollmer; Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain

doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2016.4501

Presence of microplastics and nanoplastics in food, with particular focus on seafood

Heather Wallace, Alexander Jan, Lars Barregård, Margherita Bignami, Sandra Ceccatelli, Bruce Cottrill, Michael Dinovi, Lutz Edler, Bettina Grasl-Kraupp, Christer Hogstrand, Laurentius (Ron) Hoogenboom, Helle Katrine Knutsen, Carlo Stefano Nebbia, Isabelle Oswald, Annette Petersen, Vera Maria Rogiers, Martin Rose, Alain-Claude Roudot, Tanja Schwerdtle, Christiane VleminckxGünter Vollmer, Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain

Applied Medicine

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Abstract

Following a request from the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), the EFSA Panel for Contaminants in the Food Chain was asked to deliver a statement on the presence of microplastics and nanoplastics in food, with particular focus on seafood. Primary microplastics are plastics originally manufactured to be that size, while secondary microplastics originate from fragmentation. Nanoplastics can originate from engineered material or can be produced during fragmentation of microplastic debris. Microplastics range from 0.1 to 5,000 μm and nanoplastics from approximately 1 to 100 nm (0.001–0.1 μm). There is no legislation for microplastics and nanoplastics as contaminants in food. Methods are available for identification and quantification of microplastics in food, including seafood. Occurrence data are limited. In contrast to microplastics no methods or occurrence data in food are available for nanoplastics. Microplastics can contain on average 4% of additives and the plastics can adsorb contaminants. Both additives and contaminants can be of organic as well of inorganic nature. Based on a conservative estimate the presence of microplastics in seafood would have a small effect on the overall exposure to additives or contaminants. Toxicity and toxicokinetic data are lacking for both microplastics and nanoplastics for a human risk assessment. It is recommended that analytical methods should be further developed for microplastics and developed for nanoplastics and standardised, in order to assess their presence, identity and to quantify their amount in food. Furthermore, quality assurance should be in place and demonstrated. For microplastics and nanoplastics, occurrence data in food, including effects of food processing, in particular, for the smaller sized particles (< 150 μm) should be generated. Research on the toxicokinetics and toxicity, including studies on local effects in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, are needed as is research on the degradation of microplastics and potential formation of nanoplastics in the human GI tract.

Original language	English
Article number	4501
Pages (from-to)	1-30
Number of pages	30
Journal	EFSA Journal
Volume	14
Issue number	6
Early online date	23 Jun 2016
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2016.4501
Publication status	Published - Jun 2016

Bibliographical note

The Panel wishes to thank the members of the Working Group on the presence of microplastics and nanoplastics in food, with particular focus on seafood: Francesco Cubadda, Christer Hogstrand, Peter Hollman, Hendrik Van Loveren, Anne-Katrine Lundebye and Annette Petersen for the preparatory work on this statement, the hearing expert: Stephanie Wright and EFSA staff member: Karen Mackay for the support provided to this statement.

Keywords

microplastic
nanoplastic
food
seafood
occurrence

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10.2903/j.efsa.2016.4501Licence: CC BY-ND

Presence of microplastics and nanoplastics in food, with particular focus on seafood
© 2016 European Food Safety Authority. EFSA Journal published by John Wiley and Sons Ltd on behalf of European Food Safety Authority. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and no modifications or adaptations are made.
Final published version, 21.1 KBLicence: CC BY-ND

Cite this

Wallace, H., Jan, A., Barregård, L., Bignami, M., Ceccatelli, S., Cottrill, B., Dinovi, M., Edler, L., Grasl-Kraupp, B., Hogstrand, C., Hoogenboom, L., Knutsen, H. K., Nebbia, C. S., Oswald, I., Petersen, A., Rogiers, V. M., Rose, M., Roudot, A.-C., Schwerdtle, T., ... Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (2016). Presence of microplastics and nanoplastics in food, with particular focus on seafood. EFSA Journal, 14(6), 1-30. Article 4501. https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2016.4501

Wallace, H, Jan, A, Barregård, L, Bignami, M, Ceccatelli, S, Cottrill, B, Dinovi, M, Edler, L, Grasl-Kraupp, B, Hogstrand, C, Hoogenboom, L, Knutsen, HK, Nebbia, CS, Oswald, I, Petersen, A, Rogiers, VM, Rose, M, Roudot, A-C, Schwerdtle, T, Vleminckx, C, Vollmer, G & Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain 2016, 'Presence of microplastics and nanoplastics in food, with particular focus on seafood', EFSA Journal, vol. 14, no. 6, 4501, pp. 1-30. https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2016.4501

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abstract = "Following a request from the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), the EFSA Panel for Contaminants in the Food Chain was asked to deliver a statement on the presence of microplastics and nanoplastics in food, with particular focus on seafood. Primary microplastics are plastics originally manufactured to be that size, while secondary microplastics originate from fragmentation. Nanoplastics can originate from engineered material or can be produced during fragmentation of microplastic debris. Microplastics range from 0.1 to 5,000 μm and nanoplastics from approximately 1 to 100 nm (0.001–0.1 μm). There is no legislation for microplastics and nanoplastics as contaminants in food. Methods are available for identification and quantification of microplastics in food, including seafood. Occurrence data are limited. In contrast to microplastics no methods or occurrence data in food are available for nanoplastics. Microplastics can contain on average 4% of additives and the plastics can adsorb contaminants. Both additives and contaminants can be of organic as well of inorganic nature. Based on a conservative estimate the presence of microplastics in seafood would have a small effect on the overall exposure to additives or contaminants. Toxicity and toxicokinetic data are lacking for both microplastics and nanoplastics for a human risk assessment. It is recommended that analytical methods should be further developed for microplastics and developed for nanoplastics and standardised, in order to assess their presence, identity and to quantify their amount in food. Furthermore, quality assurance should be in place and demonstrated. For microplastics and nanoplastics, occurrence data in food, including effects of food processing, in particular, for the smaller sized particles (< 150 μm) should be generated. Research on the toxicokinetics and toxicity, including studies on local effects in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, are needed as is research on the degradation of microplastics and potential formation of nanoplastics in the human GI tract.",

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AU - Jan, Alexander

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AU - Ceccatelli, Sandra

AU - Cottrill, Bruce

AU - Dinovi, Michael

AU - Edler, Lutz

AU - Grasl-Kraupp, Bettina

AU - Hogstrand, Christer

AU - Hoogenboom, Laurentius (Ron)

AU - Knutsen, Helle Katrine

AU - Nebbia, Carlo Stefano

AU - Oswald, Isabelle

AU - Petersen, Annette

AU - Rogiers, Vera Maria

AU - Rose, Martin

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AU - Schwerdtle, Tanja

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AU - Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain

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Presence of microplastics and nanoplastics in food, with particular focus on seafood

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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