2y ago

Billions of nanoplastics released when microwaving baby food containers

www.sciencedaily.com Billions of nanoplastics released when microwaving baby food containers: Exposure to plastic particles kills up to 75% of cultured kidney cells

Experiments showed that microwaving plastic baby food containers can release huge numbers of plastic particles -- in some cases, more than 2 billion nanoplastics and 4 million microplastics for every square centimeter of container.

Billions of nanoplastics released when microwaving baby food containers: Exposure to plastic particles kills up to 75% of cultured kidney cells

53 comments

Babyfood containers are NSF plastic meant to be microwavable
They only tested babyfood containers and a pouch
these containers are made out of the same plastics used in many microwaveable products
I'm not microwaving plastic ever again.
- For real, this is sobering information. I already try to avoid microwaving plastics, but I'm gonna be even more careful now, and try to spread this study. Billions of nanoplastics per square centimeter, it's scary to think about the size of containers, number that would likely be used in a day, and the fact that infants are so small with that information in context.
- My kids are past baby stage. But I’m borderline ready to go to glass/ceramic and stainless only
  Unfortunately my wife really likes nonstick too. I do make a habit of ditching any pan or pot with any blemish/chip. But still I’d prefer stainless there too.
  
  Get a seasoned carbon steel or cast iron. They work nearly as well as non sticks I’ve used
  
  Yep, this is on my to-do list. Already moved to Pyrex for re-usable containers and glass wear. We need new pans and I am going back to cast iron.
  
  note that 'ceramic' water bottles (lining - frank green) - and "ceramic" sauce-pans and cook-ware are not made of clay - they're made of a bunch of chemicals, teflon has some health concerns, but a bunch of research has gone into it, not so much into 'ceramic' products clay ceramic is not naturally non-stick , hence the other chemicals used
  bunch of notes on ceramic:
  
  https://xtrema-au.com/blogs/blog/everything-you-need-to-know-about-ceramic-coated-cookware?shpxid=bc09e5a0-d731-4a50-aad5-dd69eeae1440
  
  Chipping isn't that big a deal with nonstick. Overheating is the real danger. You should never let it it 500F. Also, once it starts to become discolored it should be disposed of.
  
  Does she not care for ceramic coated pans? They work just as well, are more durable and are easier to maintain than nonstick. What's not to love? Honestly, I haven't even used stainless since getting a good set of ceramic cookware, I get a great sear and deglaze a pan just fine with ceramic
  
  We committed to switching to stainless with an investment in a Saladmaster set. While the value of the brand is debatable the pans have been rock solid and easy to clean. It did take a bit to learn how to cook with them without sticking everything to them but it is doable. About the only thing I can't cook in them is eggs.

I’ve become increasingly weary about any heated foods in contact with plastic.
Near boiling hot soup from Chinese take-out poured into shitty plastic containers. Hard pass.
Also going to someone’s house and seeing they use those crock-pot plastic liner bags: 🤢
I also feel really bad about all the plastic dishes we have for our kids (we don’t microwave them). We’re actually going spend the coin on some stainless steel right now, thanks Lemmy!
- Do yourself a favor and get some ceramic stuff as well to replace your nonstick. Works just as well, lasts longer and is easier to maintain. You won't have to worry about microplastics with it either
- Omg u unlocked a core memory from me where my soup tasted bad and I noticed a lot of warping on the container and threw it out 🤢

On a similar note, many coffee brewing devices are made out of plastic. I bought a ceramic hario v60 for that exact reason, despite all sources claiming that plastic is safe and brews better. The aeropress is a different question. It's made of polypropylene and just now they made a glass version (which knowing me, I would break it within a week). I rarely brew in it partly because of it being plastic but brewing temperatures are between 80 and 92°C. Should I be worried?
- Good question, everytime I use aeropress I think about plastic it's made of.

Arrogant fucking humans. This story plays out every time. And they want to blot out the sun to control climate change... We deserve everything we get for our hubris. I can't wait for humanity to collapse we are a scourge
- While I agree that humans are often arrogant this is rather negative and not a great start for any kind of discussion
  
  Indeed. I'm often overwhelmed by my feelings of fear and anger. Reading this gave me such a sense of futility, like wow I must be destined to die a slow and painful death of cancer, if poverty or civil uprising doesn't get me first. Discussion seems silly at this point. Capitalism has sealed our fate, there's little we can do to protect ourselves and our loved ones in this environment. Everyone should be just as angry. To not be this angry one must be dissociating... Which is what I'll go back to now until the next article wakes up my fear and anger again.
  
  Rather negative lol
- It is mostly a small subset of humanity, the ultra-wealthy, powerful individuals, that fuck everything for everyone, I like to think that most of humanity are good people.
  
  Yeah maybe
- Agent Smith has entered the chat

My mom has always been paranoid about plastic containers. Good to see she was right

It's a little disappointing that they didn't do any testing of microplastic levels at different cook times. Instructions on the small baby food containers used in this study say to microwave for 20 seconds, and in my experience even going for 30 seconds makes the food uncomfortably hot. Id imagine that 3 full minutes boils the food and possibly melts the containers (and baby pouches are even smaller than the containers I'm referring to). The obvious testing procedure would be to use the containers as they are intended, so I'm a little suspicious why they chose such an arbitrarily long cook time
- I totally agree. suspicious about their findings. They filled reusable pouches with milk and blasted it for 3 minutes. We've been feeding our toddler little spoons meals https://www.littlespoon.com/ which has a 30s to 60s microwave time to warm it. I really doubt solid food is absorbing billions of microplastics in 30s.

How is it that we've had microwaves for decades but no one checked this before?
- Its not the microwave, its the plastic container.
  
  How is it that we've been using microwaves with plastic containers inside them for decades and yet no one has checked this before?
- first someone has to have the idea, then someone has to pay for it.
  availability of some equipment may also present issues.

I'm glad in my family we always were careful with plastic. Sole months ago our microwave stopped functioning and we bought an electric oven, so now plastic containers and plates aren't even an option to heat our food. :D

Yep, I decided to buy some small glass cooking pots for my microwave.

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