Mmm. Do I detect a faint sprinkle of…microplastics?!
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
Tiny plastic particles called microplastics can enter our bodies through food ingestion. How?! Perhaps your kitchen cutting board is part of the problem?
Enter Himani Yadav and team from North Dakota State University. They collected microplastics after chopping carrots on polyethylene and polypropylene plastic boards.
Turns out, more microplastics were released with greater chopping pressure and repeated use. Over time, the surface of the board fractures, shredding plastic particles into your food.
Researchers estimated that a person could ingest up to fifty grams of plastic a year!
That’s not kosher!
I’ll take my chances with my splintery wooden cutting board, thank you! Ouch!
Reference: Yadav, H., Khan, M. R. H., Quadir, M., Rusch, K. A., Mondal, P. P., Orr, M., Xu, E. G., & Iskander, S. M. (2023). Cutting Boards: An Overlooked Source of Microplastics in Human Food?. Environmental science & technology, 57(22), 8225–8235. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c00924