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I explained in detail about the problem of microplastics in bottled water. These minute plastic particles can be found in other beverages, as well. They have also been detected in food products such as Himalayan salts and other salts, fruits, vegetables, oils, and canned sardines. Another concern is the food we consume by the ton, rice. Microplastics have been found in packaged rice. This could lead to a large amount of plastic ingestion. You should be concerned about microplastics in general, but let’s look at the details about microplastics in rice. What do you need to know? And what can you do about it?
According to a study in the Journal of Hazardous Material, carried out in Australia, there are enough microplastics in rice to account for an ingestion of 3-4mg per serving (among Australians). There is no reason to think that the levels of microplastics in rice bought in the U.S. are different. In the U.S. this would mean that the average American consumes close to a gram of microplastics each year in rice alone.
The Rice Packaging Doesn’t Matter
The first thing you need to know is that it does not matter whether you buy your rice in plastic bags or paper packaging. Just like with bottled water, the plastic is not coming from the package.
As well, if you buy rice in cardboard boxes, shaking the package will not significantly reduce the amount of plastic mixed with the rice.
Instant Rice Contains MUCH More Microplastic
According to the Australian study, plastics in pre-cooked instant rice products like Minue Rice were four times higher than in regular uncooked rice. This is probably due to the increase in processing steps introducing more opportunities for microplastic contamination.
Test For Plastic in Rice by Blossom TV YouTube Channel
What Kind Of Plastic Was Found In Rice?
Several different plastics were detected in the rice. These plastics are commonly found in many applications.
- polyethylene: most common plastic in the world used in packaging, automotive parts, plastic bags, detergent bottles, and more. This type was the most frequently detected.
- polypropylene: a clear, glossy film used in a lot of packaging; can be used in textiles, automotive parts, medical devices, manufacturing parts, etc.
- polyethylene terephthalate (PET): the type of plastic used in clear water bottles, soda bottles, and other beverage bottles; has many other uses.
How Can You Reduce the Microplastic In Rice?
while I’ve long claimed that there is no need to rinse modern rice, the presence of microplastics may prove otherwise. Rinsing was shown to remove some of the microplastic in rice. A pre-rinse can remove 20-40% or the microplastic contamination. It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing. 1
You can read more about microplastics in the bottled water article I linked above. As I explained, we do not know the long-term health effects of microplastic consumption. You should also know that microplastics are not ubiquitous in our food, water, beverages, soil, and even our air. You cannot avoid them completely. The plastics are not coming from plastic packaging. The contamination occurs during the manufacturing process so, unfortunately, avoiding plastic packaging may not help much. There are other good reasons to curb our use of plastic packaging, of course.
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By far the best way to reduce your exposure to microplastics in food is to use less processed packaged food since the majority of plastic contamination occurs during manufacturing. Filtering your drinking water can also remove microplastics from your tap water. However, it is not unheard of for water filters to introduce microplastics into water (this is rare).
- laudia Dessì, Elvis D. Okoffo, Jake W. O’Brien, Michael Gallen, Saer Samanipour, Sarit Kaserzon, Cassandra Rauert, Xianyu Wang, Kevin V. Thomas, Plastics contamination of store-bought rice, Journal of Hazardous Materials, Volume 416, 2021, 125778, ISSN 0304-3894, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.125778.
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304389421007421)