Health Risks and Environmental Threats of the Food Prepared on Plastic Cutting Boards

Abstract

Objective: This study investigated the number and size of microplastics (MPs) found in foods prepared by chopping on commercially available and widely used plastic cutting boards. It was revealed that when plastic cutting boards are used for chopping, they introduce MPs into foods in quantities that pose a health risk and contribute to the rapid increase in MPs in environmental pollution. Material and Methods: The kitchen chopping process was simulated as the cutting of the meat with 100 knife strokes on white (low-density polyethylene) and pink plastic (a mixture of several plastics) cutting boards. Chopped food was dissolved in 10% potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution. The samples were filtered using a vacuum filtration system with 1.6 μm pore size glass fiber filters and left in Nile red for 10 min. Incorporating a 470 nm LED light, images were taken using a camera at ISO 100 with an orange filter. For the automatic quantification and characterization of the shape and size of the fluorescent MPs, ImageJ software (the Microplastics Visual Analysis Tool MP-VAT 2.0) was used. Results: A total of 7413 MP pieces of fiber, fragment, and particle types, along with their respective diameters, were identified as a result of the experiments. This means that for every stroke of the knife made on the plastic cutting board, 12 pieces of MP are released into the food. When these pieces were classified by size, it was determined that pieces in the “50-110 μm” size range, considered potentially hazardous to health, constituted 44.3% of the total MPs. The total area of the 7413 MPs particles obtained from the experiment was calculated to be 225359 μm². Conclusion: Our study has shown that foods prepared on plastic cutting boards contain microplastics in sizes that pose a risk to human health. Furthermore, cutting on plastic cutting boards increases the amount of MPS particles, which never decompose in nature, thus endangering the environment. The best way to protect both human health and the environment is to identify the source of the problem and take action to stop the use of plastic cutting boards.

Keywords

• Human health
• Microplastics
• Sanitation
• Clean water

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