Results from a pilot study done by researchers at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam established that an alarming amount of microplastics can be found in farm animal products. This included almost 80% of meat and dairy products.
Commissioned by the Plastic Soup Foundation, director Maria Westerbos commented that this “raises serious concerns about the contamination of our food chain with microplastics. It is also clear that farmers are not responsible for this. It seems that at least part of the former food products, including from supermarkets, are processed into livestock feed with packaging and all. This is not only detrimental to animal welfare, but perhaps also to ourselves. Most likely, almost every steak and burger contains small pieces of plastic,” she said.
Particles of several types of plastic were present in the blood of both pigs and cows; in cows’ milk both from farms and from packaged milk from the supermarket; in farm-animal feed pellets; and in packaged meat samples from three farms and from the supermarket. Also, all 12 samples of feed pellets and shredded feed were found to contain plastic, while no plastic particles were detected in fresh feed.
Other findings were that seven of the eight beef samples tested were found to contain plastic particles, while five of the eight pork samples contained at least one type of plastic. Plastic was also found in 18 of 25 milk samples tested.
The researchers found that the pigs and cows absorbed these plastic particles into their bloodstreams. All Dutch livestock examined, 12 cows and 12 pigs, had at least three types of plastic particles in their blood.
The researchers indicate that a larger study will need to be done to establish the extent of plastic exposure for livestock and humans.