AMBER Researcher explores impacts of Microplastics in Food

9 April 2025

Boil the kettle (perhaps a few times if its new) and read this fantastic contribution by AMBER’s Professor John J. Boland of Trinity College Dublin to the Scientific American Article on microplastics in our food, the potential impact of microplastics and what can be done to prevent them.

‘In a 2025 study, disposable plastic cups that were filled with scalding 95-degree-Celsius water released 50 percent more microplastics than cups filled with cooler, 50-degree-C water. Plastic kettles, too, could be a problem. The simple act of boiling water in a new kettle will leave you with between six million and eight million microplastic particles per cup, Boland and his colleagues found. Fewer and fewer particles are released with each successive use, however. In their study, after 40 boils in the kettle, only 11 percent of the initial microplastic load leached into the water.’

“We are at an early stage, but there is growing evidence that exposure to microplastics is linked to inflammation, coronary artery disease and neurodegenerative impairment”

Article How Microplastics Get into Our Food:
Kitchen items—sponges, blenders, kettles—are abundant sources of microplastics that we all consume
By Marta Zaraska edited by Gary Stix

Read the full article: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-microplastics-get-into-our-food/