Department of Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Ciudad de México, Mexico.
Department of Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Ciudad de México, Mexico; Nanoscience & Nanotechnology Program, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Ciudad de México, Mexico.
Sci Total Environ. 2020 Apr 20;714:136823. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.136823. Epub 2020 Jan 20.
The widespread dispersal of microplastic (plastic particle <5 mm) contamination in human food chain is gaining more attention in the public arena and scientific community. Better assessment of diversified consumer products is a key for combating problems related to microplastic contamination. To the best of our knowledge, no study has been conducted on dairy milk products, and the current research status of microplastics is lacking. Here, a total of 23 milk samples (22 adult and 1 kid) from 5 international and 3 national brands of Mexico was collected and tested for the occurrence of microplastics. Results confirmed the ubiquity of microplastics in the analyzed samples and showed variability ranging between 3 ± 2-11 ± 3.54 particles L with an overall average of 6.5 ± 2.3 particles L which are lower than any reported levels in liquid food products. Microplastic particles exhibited variety of colors (blue, brown, red and pink), shapes (fibers and fragments) and sizes (0.1-5 mm). Among which, blue colored fibers (<0.5 mm) were predominant. Micro-Raman identification results revealed that thermoplastic sulfone polymers (polyethersulfone and polysulfone) were common types of microplastics in milk samples, which are highly used membrane materials in dairy processes. Thus, this study findings developed a baseline outlook for microplastics contamination in dairy products and posed a great deal to take necessary controls and preventive measures to avoid them.
微塑料（粒径<5 毫米的塑料颗粒）污染在人类食物链中的广泛传播引起了公众和科学界的更多关注。更好地评估多样化的消费品是解决与微塑料污染相关问题的关键。据我们所知，目前还没有针对乳制品的研究，而且微塑料的研究现状也存在不足。在这里，我们共收集了来自墨西哥 5 个国际品牌和 3 个国内品牌的 23 份牛奶样本（22 份成人样本和 1 份儿童样本），并对这些样本中微塑料的存在情况进行了检测。结果证实了微塑料在分析样本中的普遍存在，并显示出在 3±2-11±3.54 个/升之间的可变性，总体平均值为 6.5±2.3 个/升，低于任何已报道的液体食品中的水平。微塑料颗粒呈现出各种颜色（蓝色、棕色、红色和粉色）、形状（纤维和碎片）和大小（0.1-5 毫米）。其中，蓝色纤维（<0.5 毫米）居多。微拉曼鉴定结果表明，热塑性聚砜聚合物（聚醚砜和聚砜）是牛奶样本中常见的微塑料类型，这些聚合物是乳制品加工中常用的膜材料。因此，本研究结果为乳制品中的微塑料污染提供了一个基线展望，并提出了采取必要的控制和预防措施来避免微塑料污染的重要性。
