A NEW study from the University of Queensland has revealed that humans are consuming three to four milligrams of microplastic per every 100mg of rice they consume - with more alarming data found from instant rice packages, that contain up to 14mg per serving.
There is limited research on the affects of consuming microplastics have on human health, which are increasingly being found in our food and natural environment.
Rice is the most consumed food in the world, and is a food staple for more than 3.5 billion people. Lead author Dr Jake O'Brien from UQ's Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS) said there is a need to know how much plastic humans are consuming.
"Rice is a staple food around the world, so it is important we understand the quantity of microplastics we could be consuming," Dr O'Brien said.
Affects on health
The researchers tested for seven different plastic types ranging from the most common plastic, polyethylene to plastics used in clothing and food production, laminates, technical engineering, polystyrene, acrylics and tube piping.
"Currently there are many unknowns about how harmful consuming microplastics is to human health, but we do know exposure can cause an element of risk," Dr O'Brien said.
"It is important to recognise that we are in the early stages of developing methods to measure plastic contamination of foods and at the moment we are limited to only a few plastic types.
"It is really challenging to determine our exposure and exposure sources of these chemicals."
The research found that washing rice before cooking dramatically reduced the levels of plastic found by up to 40 per cent.
In the future the research team aims to incorporate a measure of the plastic size, along with the concentration for a better assessment of potential health impacts from microplastics.
