ILSI Europe Webinar: Consumer concerns about microplastics in food - the science perspective
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Registration was free via the Zoom link
Microplastics are small particles of plastic polymer materials smaller than 5 mm in size. Those particles are ubiquitous in the environment and are commonly found in food (e.g. in mussels) and drinking water. Consumers express concerns about the potential health effects of microplastic ingestion.
There is limited reliable data about the number of particles we ingest, their exact sources and their fate in our body. Are they a concern? How do we study them? What are the current developments in the filed to make the study of such particles more reliable?
These and other questions were the focused of this webinar.
The webinar has been hosted by Dr Todd Gouin and Prof. Bart Koelmans. Short introductions into the state of the art in microplastics analysis and human exposure assessments, as well as societal impacts of such events have been done by:
Dr Sabine Pahl, University of Vienna, AT
MSc Jana Weisser, Technical University of Munich, DE
Dr Olivia Osborne, Food Standards Agency, UK
A discussion with the hosts and speakers on key questions submitted by the participants followed the introductions. A time for live Q&A has been dedicated in the end of the webinar.
Submit your questions
For the discussion part of the webinar, questions were submitted in advance (anonymously) here: Google Form
This event was especially tailored for non-experts - everyone was welcome!