Microplastics and nanoplastics have become a major topic of scientific and public interest in recent years. The Microplastics Initiative from ILSI Europe (1) is focused on advancing the knowledge on micro- and nanoplastics in food and beverages. It fosters collaboration by enabling exchange and critical discussions on the latest research and best practices, while also supporting the co-development and potential implementation of new research proposals. It also seeks to promote synergies among ongoing initiatives and minimise duplication, ultimately driving progress in a resource-efficient manner.

Humans are exposed to incidental micro- and nanoplastics due to their ubiquitous presence in the environment (2). Yet, there is only very limited information and scientific evidence on their potential health effects. In the last three years we have seen an exponential increase in scientific publications and industry-academia projects seeking to understand this topic better, yet toxicological assessments remain inconclusive (3).

In general, there is consensus within the scientific community regarding the inability to conclusively identify human health effects associated with exposure to microplastics (4). This is because the exposure levels are relatively low, as compared to concentrations needed to cause adverse effects, with the sizes of particles generally being too large to be absorbed by the human body, and their tendency to remain chemically stable and unreactive (5).

For nanoplastics, the biggest challenge is gathering reliable data through appropriate sampling and testing methodologies, in order to explore and understand the interaction mechanisms at the cellular membrane level that may lead to disturbances of cellular function (6).

Micro- and nanoplastics are already widespread in the environment, which makes testing challenging. To avoid contamination during sample preparation, clean-room conditions are needed to ensure reliable and consistent results (7).

Various technologies are available to characterise microplastic with specific detection and quantification limits; therefore a harmonisation of the sample preparation and analysis is essential to be able to compare results and draw conclusions (8).

Concerning nanoplastics, there are not yet reliable analytical qualitative methods available, and the quantification is frequently based on extrapolation (9).

Despite the large number of publications investigating the presence of microplastics in dietary sources, the available evidence on their characteristics and quantities remains limited (10).

The multidisciplinary profile of the ILSI Europe Microplastics Initiative is what I value most. It balances the industry members’ need for a practical approach with the thorough, comprehensive perspective guided by the academic representatives.

The academic members also help to guard against bias and to critically assess the growing body of publications, ensuring the focus stays on relevant and reliable findings.

Quoting Peter Drucker: “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” To better understand any potential health implications of microplastics in dietary sources, we need to quantify microplastics in complex matrices. Currently, somewhat reliable results can be achieved only for microplastic in water.

Then, scientific investigations should focus on confirming the interaction mechanisms at cellular level.

Microplastics can originate from a range of sources across the environment and the wider food value chain, including air and ingredients such as water.

The Microplastics Initiative aims to develop practical and applicable methodologies to better monitor and understand this phenomenon, helping food companies to characterise their operations and products.

The increasing international focus on the level of microplastics in food could lead to misguided regulations and policies. The ILSI Europe Microplastics Initiative is aimed at providing science-based evidence and methodologies to help food safety and health authorities in defining a viable regulatory framework.

Within the Microplastics Initiative, we are preparing an interlaboratory comparison to verify the performance of different analytical techniques (e.g. micro-infrared spectroscopy, or micro-FTIR, and Raman spectroscopy) for quantification and characterisation of microplastics. As a first step, all involved laboratories will analyse the same synthetic standard with microplastic immobilised into a potassium bromide tablet. This will allow a direct comparison of the various analytical techniques and the involved laboratories.

Once the current constraints on analytical methodology are overcome, I expect our understanding to accelerate, particularly in quantifying the major sources of human exposure and in assessing the potential health impact of exposure and intake. I am confident that the distinguished academic scientists in the Microplastics Initiative will play a crucial role in guiding this research and preparing recommendations to support future risk assessment and decision-making.