Food items in Dutch supermarkets found to contain microplastics
The final form taken by plastic waste, microplastics have been detected in most of the meat and milk products tested by researchers at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VUA) in the Netherlands. In addition to this is the alarming discovery of microplastic contamination in the blood of farm animals, suggesting the pervasive nature of these pollutants.
VUA researchers found microplastic particulates in three-quarters of beef, pork, and milk products they sampled from Dutch supermarkets, as well as in every single sample of animal pellet feed tested from Dutch farms. It comes as no surprise that microplastics was also discovered in the bodies of livestock.
The Netherlands is considered a healthy and wealthy country – it seems unimaginable that the microplastics pollution problem continues to plague places on the planet that should be beyond their reach. Policymakers have been called upon to tackle the problem of microplastics pollution before it spirals out of control and endangers the life of humans and animals, and causes irreparable damage to the environment.
Farm produce in other countries have not been analysed at the time of this study, however, the VUA researchers highlight microplastics discoveries in milk purchased in Switzerland in 2021, and in farm milk from France.
The research team is responsible for the earlier discovery of microplastics in human blood this year, and applied the same methods in this present study.
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