Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what research her Department has commissioned into the effect on human health of ingesting (a) micro- and (b) nano-plastics that have found their way into the food chain.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has been monitoring the scientific evidence concerning the occurrence and effects of microplastics in seafood. On the basis of current information, the FSA considers it is unlikely that the presence of the low levels of microplastic particles that have been reported to occur in certain types of food would cause harm to consumers.

The FSA is currently commissioning a new critical review to look at existing scientific evidence on the types of microorganisms that could potentially colonise nano-plastics and microplastics in the environment, whether this could be a pathway for microbiological contamination of our food and the potential risk to human health. We anticipate this study to start in November/December 2019 and to be completed in early 2021.

In addition, the Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment will be starting to consider the potential health effects of microplastics in the diet later this year.