Issue 6, 2022

A microscopic survey on microplastics in beverages: the case of beer, mineral water and tea

Abstract

It has been reported that microplastics exist ubiquitously in aquatic and terrestrial environments. Microplastic surveys on diverse daily foods with high consumption possibly containing microplastics have essential implications in clarifying the contamination routes, health risk assessment, and thereby preventing food pollution. Given the dependence of microplastic pollution on the regional environment, production and transportation, it further remains an open question on the number, size distribution and type of microplastics in foods from different countries worldwide. Here, we show that daily drinks produced worldwide, including beer, mineral water and tea, are all polluted with microplastics without exception. The number of microplastics investigated in this work lies in the range of 20–80 mL−1 for the beers, 10 mL−1 for the bottled mineral water, and 200–500 g−1 for the tea leaves. Quasi-spherical particles and irregular fragments dominate the shape of microplastics in beer and mineral water, whereas tea leaves carry numerous microplastic fibers. By identification through Raman spectroscopy, we observed the presence of polystyrene (PS) and polypropylene (PP) microplastics in beers, PP in bottled mineral water, and polyethylene (PE) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in tea leaves. Possible contamination sources include raw materials, atmosphere, and tools and containers that release microplastics. Given the facile adsorption of heavy metals and antibiotics to microplastics in beverages, public concern may arise regarding the accumulation of microplastics through the food chain and their synergetic harmful effect. Thus, our results should inspire further efforts that may contribute to the elimination and removal of microplastics from foods.

Graphical abstract: A microscopic survey on microplastics in beverages: the case of beer, mineral water and tea

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
13 Janv. 2022
Accepted
13 Febr. 2022
First published
14 Febr. 2022

Analyst, 2022,147, 1099-1105

A microscopic survey on microplastics in beverages: the case of beer, mineral water and tea

Y. Li, L. Peng, J. Fu, X. Dai and G. Wang, Analyst, 2022, 147, 1099 DOI: 10.1039/D2AN00083K

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements