EFSA Panel Recommends Further Assessment of Microplastics and Nanoplastics in Food

Responding to a request from the German Federal Institute for Risk
Assessment, the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA’s) Panel for
Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM Panel) has published a
statement on the presences of microplastics and nanoplastics in food,
particularly seafood. According to the CONTAM panel, microplastics
range in size from 0.1 to 5,000 μm and are either manufactured to that
size (primary microplastics) or fragmented (secondary microplastics).
Nanoplastics, which range in size from approximately 1 to 100 nm
(0.001–0.1 μm), “originate from engineered material or can be produced
during fragmentation of microplastic debris.”

After reviewing the scientific literature, the panel concludes that more
work is needed to develop and standardize analytical methods for microplastics
and nanoplastics “in order to assess their presence, identity and
to quantify their amount in food.” As the statement notes, “Occurrence
data are limited. In contrast to microplastics no methods or occurrence
data in food are available for nanoplastics… Based on a conservative
estimate the presence of microplastics in seafood would have a small
effect on the overall exposure to additives or contaminants. Toxicity and
toxicokinetic data are lacking for both microplastics and nanoplastics for
a human risk assessment.”

“For microplastics and nanoplastics, occurrence data in food, including
effects of food processing, in particular, for the smaller sized particles
(< 150 μm) should be generated,” states the CONTAM Panel. “Research
on the toxicokinetics and toxicity, including studies on local effects in the
gastrointestinal (GI) tract, are needed as is research on the degradation
of microplastics and potential formation of nanoplastics in the human GI
tract.” See EFSA News Release, June 23, 2016.

Issue 609