Are Plastic Slicing Boards Protected?

Way back, people chopped and floor meats and greens on pure surfaces like rocks. Ultimately, we determined to commerce these slab stones for picket reducing boards. Extra not too long ago, many residence cooks, eating places, and meals producers have switched to plastic boards for comfort, lighter weight, and cost-effectiveness.

However current analysis factors to a possible draw back: the reducing motion of knives causes plastic boards to launch tiny items, referred to as microplastics, into the chopped-up meals. Whether or not these fragments of plastic have an effect on well being doubtless is dependent upon many elements that proceed to be studied.

Right here’s what researchers say about plastic boards and whether or not it’s best to exchange them with one other materials.

What occurs to the plastic in your reducing board?

Rising analysis means that when individuals devour microplastics from numerous sources, corresponding to plastic water bottles, they might get absorbed by the physique’s tissues. Some scientists suppose such absorption could result in power irritation and oxidative stress, points that improve the chance of well being issues. 

Nonetheless, some microplastics, together with ones from plastic reducing boards, may be too giant for our our bodies to soak up. 

Research show that once we reduce upon plastic boards, microplastics are produced and blend into the meals. A single knife stroke can launch 100-300 microplastics, in keeping with one evaluation. Analysis has proven that about 50% of the launched microplastics keep on the reducing board after chopping and go down the drain when the board is washed (good for you, maybe, however not nice for wastewater air pollution). The opposite 50%, we devour.

In 2023, a crew of scientists at North Dakota State College discovered microplastics had been launched into carrots after being chopped on plastic boards. Based mostly on their lab work, the crew projected important publicity to microplastics from common use of plastic boards for a yr. However they regarded just for comparatively giant microplastics, says Syeed Iskander, assistant professor of environmental engineering and the research’s corresponding creator. 

Learn Extra: What Occurs to the Plastic in Dishwasher Pods?

In line with some analysis, solely the tiniest microplastics might enter liver cells and trigger adjustments in human colon cells. Different papers have speculated extra usually that solely microplastics smaller than 10 microns will be taken up by the physique’s organs. (A micron is one-thousandth of a millimeter.) Bigger items would possibly go by the digestive tract harmlessly.

Iskander thinks that, had his crew’s strategies allowed them to watch smaller microplastics, they in all probability would have discovered many. In one other research, researchers within the United Arab Emirates checked out microplastic contamination of uncooked reduce fish and hen on plastic reducing boards utilized by butchers. They discovered solely particles 15.6 microns and greater (although butchers’ forceful chopping could produce completely different microplastic sizes than residence prep).

“The dimensions distribution is vital with regards to well being as a result of that actually governs whether or not this materials is simply going to go by the physique or will permeate it,” says Stephanie Wright, affiliate professor at Imperial School London who research microplastics and well being. Wright provides the microplastics discovered within the North Dakota and UAE research “would sometimes be thought of too giant to cross the intestine” into the remainder of the physique.

The UAE research additionally discovered that washing the meals after it had been chopped—for one minute with working faucet water—eliminated small quantities of microplastics, however the overwhelming majority caught to the meals, says Thies Thiemann, the research’s corresponding creator, a chemistry professor at United Arab Emirates College.

Analysis on particle dimension isn’t settled. In line with some research, bigger microplastics can transfer by the physique’s limitations.

Microplastics could pose a threat no matter dimension

Dimension could also be only one determinant of whether or not microplastics from reducing boards have an effect on well being. Some scientists say the chemical substances from microplastics might nonetheless trigger issues, even when the microplastics themselves go by and out of the physique. 

Warmth is being studied as an element. After chopped meals is combined with microplastics, it usually goes to the oven, range, or microwave. As a result of microplastics comprise many chemical components and have a low melting level, “they might break down and launch these chemical substances, particularly if cooked at excessive temperatures,” Iskander explains. “The chemical substances can readily find yourself in our blood.”

Throughout frying or stress cooking, “warmth will definitely encourage migration of chemical components out of the plastic,” Wright says. She provides that cooking oils and fatty meats additional promote this migration.

Learn Extra: What Occurs to the Plastic in Single-Serve Espresso Pods?

The identical problem occurs in reverse when meals is cooked entire after which chopped and scraped whereas nonetheless steaming on plastic boards—a standard observe at eating places, Iskander notes.

Analysis hasn’t straight linked the usage of plastic reducing boards to human well being impacts, nevertheless it has been explored in animals. This yr, scientists in China fed mice diets ready on boards made of various plastic varieties. One other group ate meals made on wooden boards. After a couple of months of this, the wood-board group was doing high quality, however the mice with meals reduce on plastic boards had extra intestinal irritation and disturbed intestine micro organism.

This held true regardless that no microplastics had been discovered within the mouse our bodies, suggesting the chemical substances launched by the microplastics could have been accountable. 

The authors emphasised their findings don’t straight apply to people. Additionally they famous the mice had been purposely given excessive doses of microplastics to simulate one yr of publicity, however over a comparatively brief time frame. Sooner or later, decrease doses ought to be studied. “It’s laborious to extrapolate animal analysis to a lot decrease exposures each day,” says Wright, who didn’t work on the research.

In our kitchens, publicity ranges can range based mostly on extra elements, corresponding to how vigorously you chop—firmer meals calls for extra forceful knife strokes—and your frequency of chopping. (Shopping for pre-made, ultra-processed meals to keep away from chopping isn’t the reply; research constantly discover ultra-processed meals comprise essentially the most microplastics.) 

One other problem is how lengthy you’ve had your board. The UAE researchers discovered plastic boards launched extra microplastics as they wore down with elevated utilization. “Repeat behaviors and repeat exposures are in all probability fairly vital once we take into consideration long-term well being outcomes,” Wright says.

Plastics and chemical components utilized in reducing boards bought within the U.S. should meet security necessities of the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration (FDA) for “cheap certainty of no hurt,” says Kimberly Smart White, vp of regulatory and scientific affairs on the American Chemistry Council, a commerce affiliation. “This implies the [plastic] polymer used to make the board should comply, in addition to any components,” White says.

The U.S. Division of Agriculture (USDA) advises on its web site that plastic reducing boards can be utilized “with out the concern of impacting one’s well being.” 

However analysis on microplastics is nascent. The World Well being Group is prioritizing the necessity to deal with their “recognized and predicted well being dangers.” The European Meals Security Authority says extra analysis is required, partly as a result of many research are thought to have overestimated microplastic quantities by flawed measurement. “There’s lots of uncertainty,” Iskander says.

Slicing board alternate options

If you wish to transfer on from plastic boards, one different is wooden. Nonetheless, switching to wooden cuts each methods. It includes its personal points and issues.

Wooden is less complicated on knives than one other cutting-board materials, titanium, however a possible drawback is microbial development. Wooden boards have surfaces with pores that absorb moisture and bits of meals, letting micro organism penetrate and hang around, probably resulting in cross-contamination. 

Ben Chapman, division head of agricultural and well being sciences at North Carolina State College—whose podcast Dangerous or Not? analyzes on a regular basis dangers from germs— thinks the chance is low if boards are cleaned after each use. Any leftover micro organism “will in all probability die as they get trapped deep within the cracks,” he says.

With out such washing, you possibly can turn into one in every of 48 million instances of food-borne sickness yearly within the U.S. Should you haven’t gotten sick but, that doesn’t show invincibility. “The chance of acute sickness is a chance sport,” Chapman says, relying on the publicity sort and timing.

Learn Extra: 10 Methods to Gracefully Change the Topic

Plastic beats wooden on comfort, particularly with regards to cleanliness. The dishwasher would destroy wooden boards, whereas plastic is dishwasher-friendly. Wooden should be washed by hand: first with cleaning soap to take away particles, adopted by a food-safe sanitizer, Chapman recommends. He makes use of a plastic board for uncooked meats and wooden boards for every little thing else.