Single-use paper cups used for takeaway coffee and other beverages release millions of microplastic particles when exposed to hot liquid, University of Queensland researchers have found.
You’re right. But, it’s less about the storage, and more about the processing. The machines used to process food all have plastic parts, bearing surfaces that wear down.
Studies published in Food Chemistry found microplastics in every commercial olive oil they tested — so olive oil does have microplastics, and the plastic comes from the extraction and bottling chain, not the olives. A 2024 study of olive and vegetable oils from Italy and Spain measured a mean of about 1,140 particles per liter, mostly fragments under 100 microns and dominated by polyethylene and polypropylene — and found no significant difference between oils bottled in glass and in plastic.
At least PE and PP are relatively harmless. I think the narrative than any microplastic is bad covers up the evil that was polluting our world with PFAS.
You’re right. But, it’s less about the storage, and more about the processing. The machines used to process food all have plastic parts, bearing surfaces that wear down.
At least PE and PP are relatively harmless. I think the narrative than any microplastic is bad covers up the evil that was polluting our world with PFAS.