CLEANFOOD: From Farm to Fork, the Impact of Microplastics and plastic chemicals in Food on Public Health
Micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs) and plastic chemicals (PCs), that are intrinsic to the plastic materials, enter the food chain, leading to human exposure and concern for health risks. Many PCs are known endocrine disruptors, negatively affecting human development, metabolic, endocrine, and immune systems and potentially increasing cancer risks, but how dietary MNP exposure influences human exposure to metabolism-disrupting PCs is mostly unknown.
CleanFood is establishing a holistic approach that is needed to understand human exposure to MNPs and PCs via food, disentangle environmental pathways and provide essential new knowledge on uptake and human health risk.
The project involves scientists from socioeconomics, analytical chemistry, ecotoxicology, human toxicology, and epidemiology combining field data, experiments, modelling and applications of Machine Learning and Large Language Models.
The intended work includes
- Investigation of Norwegian environmental samples such as air, soil and seawater, collected at production sites of Norwegian food for contents of MNPs and PCs.
- Analysis of MNPs and PCs in unpackaged, fresh Norwegian-grown food, packaged food, food contact materials and in drinking water (raw source water, treated water at plant, tap water, bottled water).
- Determination of MNPs and PCs in human samples (blood) and correlation with lifestyle and diet.
- Impact of human exposure to MNPs and PCs on health based on plasma metabolomics and metabolic pathway analysis, together with the definition of exposure patterns using network analysis of the collected project data and Norwegian biomonitoring data repositories.
- Establishment of a prediction model for internal exposure to PCs from measured external exposure data.
- Evaluation of the societal impact of dietary exposure to PCs (impact on BMI and determination of BMI-induced behavioural changes)
Project period: 2026–2029
Project partners: FHI (leading), NVI, NILU, NIVA, Norsk Vann, Chiron AS, Den norske Emballasjeforening, Minderoo Foundation​
Collaborative Project to Meet Societal and Industry-related Challenges, funded by the Research Council of Norway