Average roast dinner contains almost 250k microplastics
Experts in Portsmouth have revealed the staggering figure
Researchers at the University of Portsmouth have found we are consuming almost a quarter of a million tiny particles of plastic when we eat our Sunday lunch.
A new study has found that enjoying one traditional roast dinner can lead to ingesting 230,000 microplastics smaller than 5mm in size.
That means eating one roast dinner - or a similar meal - every day would equate to eating two plastic bags each year.
The experiment, conducted alongside ITV's Good Morning Britain programme, involved reporter Michelle Morrison and her two children making two separate roasts, each containing chicken, potatoes, carrots, broccoli and Yorkshire pudding.
One meal was made with ingredients that had all been bought wrapped in plastic versus the second meal, for which most of the ingredients had been purchased without any plastic packaging at all i.e. loose.
The research showed the roast made from plastic-wrapped ingredients contained seven times more microplastics than the non plastic-wrapped one.
Dr Fay Couceiro, Reader in Environmental Pollution at the University of Portsmouth, said:
“From the results it would appear that the majority of microplastics in our food come from the plastic packaging it is wrapped in.
"However, there are other ways that plastic can enter the food chain. It could be getting into the vegetables through the soil or into our meat through grazing.
"Air has lots of microplastics in it too, so they could be falling on top of the food and finally it could be from the cooking utensils used when preparing a meal."
Alberto Costa MP, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Microplastics said:
"I very much welcome this research by the University of Portsmouth and Good Morning Britain on this important topic. It has become increasingly apparent that plastic is present in our bodies having recently been discovered in human blood and in our lungs.
"Plastic can enter our bodies through the air we breathe and through our food as highlighted in this investigation.
"We don’t yet know the effect this has on our health, but I would very much welcome more research and investigation into this so we can understand if there are any impacts."