If you’ve ever wondered whether plastic takeout containers are all that safe, you’re not alone.
According to Food & Wine, a new study took a closer look at these highly commonplace items, and its findings might validate some consumers’ ambient concerns about their use.
What’s happening?
As far as dining goes, “takeout” is not new — drive-throughs and food delivery became parts of American life in the post-World War II era.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally changed the public’s relationship with takeout. What was once a weekend or “late night at the office” thing became more of a daily occurrence when supermarkets became less accessible and shortages were rife, according to the USDA.
Although those conditions changed, the easy availability of takeout didn’t wane entirely, and researchers in China set out to quantify whether the plastic containers in which takeout is served contributed to individual rates of microplastics ingestion.
The title of their study worryingly described plastic takeout containers as “nano and microplastic reservoirs,” and their subjects were a population reliant on restaurant food: college students.
Researchers instructed students to record their eating and lifestyle habits, and the subjects provided stool samples to quantify their exposure to microplastics.
Unsurprisingly, researchers determined that subjects who consumed more takeout had higher levels of microplastics in their samples, finding “171 and 269 plastic particles in every 100 grams of feces” on average in the group.
Why is this study important?
The term “microplastics” was coined by marine biologist Richard Thompson in 2004, and his research kicked off a flurry of studies into how they affect humans, wildlife, and the planet.
On all counts, findings have been consistently concerning.
Like plastic pollution, microplastics pose a risk to wildlife and habitats around the world, contaminating the soil and the sea.
On the health front, a growing number of adverse impacts have been linked to microplastic exposure.
That appeared to be the case in the new study; students with higher levels of microplastics in their samples had higher levels of “bad bacteria” and lower levels of beneficial microbes.
Researchers said their findings aligned with evidence that microplastics “compromise gut barrier integrity and promote systemic inflammation.”
Broadly, the authors said their research “emphasizes the urgent need for regulatory policies targeting plastic packaging.”
What’s being done about it?
Globally, a United Nations-led effort to enter into a legally binding plastics treaty remains underway, but recent talks in Geneva did not result in an agreement.
Contacting lawmakers to demand change addresses the issue at scale.
Individually, using less plastic will minimize direct exposure to microplastic pollution. Eliminating it entirely may not be practical, but replacing plastic when you can makes a difference.
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