Managing the analytical challenges related to micro- and nanoplastics in the environment and food: filling the knowledge gaps

Abstract

This paper identifies knowledge gaps on the sustainability and impacts of plastics and presents some recommendations from an expert group that met at a special seminar organised by the European Commission at the end of 2018. The benefits of plastics in society are unquestionable, but there is an urgent need to better manage their value chain. The recently adopted European Strategy for Plastics stressed the need to tackle the challenges related to plastics with a focus on plastic litter including microplastics. Microplastics have been detected mainly in the marine environment, but also in freshwater, soil and air. Based on today's knowledge they may also be present in food products. Although nanoplastics have not yet been detected, it can be assumed that they are also present in the environment. This emerging issue presents challenges to better understand future research needs and the appropriate immediate actions to be taken to support the necessary societal and policy initiatives. It has become increasingly apparent that a broad and systematic approach is required to achieve sustainable actions and solutions along the entire supply chain. It is recognised that there is a pressing need for the monitoring of the environment and food globally. However, despite the number of research projects increasing, there is still a lack of suitable and validated analytical methods for detection and quantification of micro-and nanoplastics. There is also a lack of hazard and fate data which would allow for their risk assessment. Some priorities are identified in this paper to bridge the knowledge gaps for appropriate management of these challenges. At the same time it is acknowledged that there is a great complexity in the challenges that need to be tackled before a really comprehensive environmental assessment of plastics, covering their entire life cycle, will be possible. ARTICLE HISTORY

Current Insights into Monitoring, Bioaccumulation, and Potential Health Effects of Microplastics Present in the Food Chain

“…In view of the presence of MPs in the air and tap water, precautions in terms of quality assurance and control are elementary criteria for achieving reliable results. The need for harmonized protocols has been addressed by [12,13,20,94], among others. Parameters mentioned in these studies include blank samples for checking background levels, prevention of cross contamination among samples, reproducibility, harmonization of PSD, description of type and shape of the particles found, and conversion of counts to weight percent.…”

Microplastic contamination of salt intended for human consumption: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Although it remains to be shown whether the effects of MPs on human health are significant or not, there is clearly Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https ://doi.org/10.1007/s4245 2-020-03749 -0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. a strong need to urgently evaluate their prevalence in the environment [22,23]. The first step towards understanding their significance for humans is in establishing the exposure routes and quantifying exposures.…”

Combining microcavity size selection with Raman microscopy for the characterization of Nanoplastics in complex matrices

“…filters) or numerous particles and the development of methods, which limit matrix interferences, will be key to analyzing complex samples. Overall, an examination of the current state-of-art in the extraction analysis of nanoplastics and small (< 10 µm) microplastics reveals that there is a serious lack of straightforward, effective methods that can be used for the extraction, identification and quantification of pNP and/or small pMP in complex food and environmental samples 8 , 23 .…”