Data quality assessment for studies investigating microplastics and nanoplastics in food products: Are current data reliable?

Highlights

● Data quality assessment criteria for MP/NPs in food products were developed.

● Data quality of 71 data records (69 of them only focused on MPs) was assessed.

● About 96% of the data records were considered unreliable in at least one criterion.

● Improvements need to be made regarding positive controls and polymer identification.

● A mismatch between MP/NPs used in toxicity studies and those in foods was recorded.

Abstract

Data on the occurrence of microplastics and nanoplastics (MP/NPs) in foods have been used to assess the human health risk caused by the consumption of MP/NPs. The reliability of the data, however, remains unclear because of the lack of international standards for the analysis of MP/NPs in foods. Therefore, the data quality needs to be assessed for accurate health risk assessment. This study developed 10 criteria applicable to the quality assessment of data on MP/NPs in foods. Accordingly, the reliability of 71 data records (69 of them only focused on MPs) was assessed by assigning a score of 2 (reliable without restrictions), 1 (reliable but with restrictions), or 0 (unreliable) on each criterion. The results showed that only three data records scored 2 or 1 on all criteria, and six data records scored 0 on as many as six criteria. A total of 58 data records did not include information on positive controls, and 12 data records did not conduct the polymer identification, which could result in the overestimation or underestimation of MP/NPs. Our results also indicated that the data quality of unprocessed foods was more reliable than that of processed foods. Furthermore, we proposed a quality assurance and quality control protocol to investigate MP/NPs in foods. Notably, the characteristics of MP/NPs used in toxicological studies and those existing in foods showed a remarkable discrepancy, causing the uncertainty of health risk assessment. Therefore, both the estimated exposure of MP/NPs and the claimed potential health risks should be treated with caution.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Microplastic / Nanoplastic / Food products / Data quality / Human health risk

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Shandong Provincial Key Research and Development Program (No. 2019JZZY020302).

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-023-1694-0 and is accessible for authorized users.

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