Microplastics releases by packaging, a new risk for consumers

Microplastics are widely spread and used as essential components of disposable food packaging due to the fact that they allow for good preservation of food products. It has been observed that, through the leaching process, microplastics pass to humans through food and drink, and this exposure has been evaluated to highlight possible risks to human health. The purpose of this systematic review is to provide an overview of current knowledge on the subject of the correlation between the release of microplastics present in packaging and the relative ingestion by humans associated with possible health risk. The method applied for this analysis is a literature revision, the articles were selected using some key words: packaging, microplastics, ingestion of plastic, human health. Microplastics are found ubiquitous in the food web, an average mass value of microplastics has been tested < 1 mm, and it has been estimated that humans ingest 0.1-5 g of microplastics weekly on average. Numerous studies carried out on animals have shown that micro and nano plastics cause damage to the oxidative and inflammatory balance of the intestine, as well as an interruption of the epithelial permeability of the intestine and also cause dysbiosis and toxicity of the immune cells. Amounts of microplastics ranging from 4.0 to 18.7 MPs / kg were found in meat packaged in food trays made of extruded polystyrene. The analyses also focused on the use of packaged beverages since humans are daily exposed to these oral contaminants. An appreciable amount of microplastics released from food packaging is ingested by humans and various studies have reported that this absorption causes intestinal disorders and mmune disorders that should be further investigated to estimate the risk that the ingestion of microplastics has on human health, now and in the future.