We can eat more than 100 pieces of plastic at every meal

According to a Heriot-Watt University study (UK) published in Environmental Pollution magazine, we may be consuming more than 100 micro-plastic beads - called microplastic - during each meal.

More frightening, plastic originates not primarily from food or cooking environments but also domestic dust (along with thousands of bacteria and fungi).

To conduct the experiment, the team placed Petri dishes containing dust on the table, located next to the main food plates at three separate houses at meal time. Scientists discovered 14 small plastic beads on each Petri dish after 20 minutes. Because the dinner plate is larger in size, they estimate that about 114 plastic beads can fall on the plate at every meal. That is, on average every year, an average person swallows 13,731 to 68,415 plastic beads derived from indoor dust, simply by eating.

Micro plastic particles in food can originate from indoor dust.(Photo: Korean Air).

"The findings in dust can originate from many different objects when they are corroded, such as synthetic fabrics, carpets, car tires, and furniture," the team said.

Scientists initially wanted to compare the number of plastic beads found in boys' bodies (soft animals) with the amount of plastic beads in a family meal. They found that each male body contained less than two micro-plastic beads. On average, each person consumes about 100 plastic beads per year through the consumption of shellfish.'This result may be surprising to those who think that the number of plastic beads in seafood is higher than that of indoor dust,' said Ted Henry, a member of the research team.

Micro plastic beads are found on every continent and across oceans, ponds, lakes, rivers and streams. Plastic enters the abdomen of marine fish, according to the food chain affecting all other marine mammals. Plastic fragments build up in the stomach, block the digestive tract and can kill the animal.

The United Nations warns that plastic poses a serious threat to humans after a study showed that more than a quarter of the fish sold in the market in Indonesia and California (USA) contain plastic particles. Diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) compound is found in some plastics known as carcinogens, causing birth defects and immune system problems. In addition, plastic can also break down the hormones of the organism.