Microplastics and Their Effect in Horticultural Crops: Food Safety and Plant Stress

• Main Authors: Gilda Carrasco Silva, Felipe M. Galleguillos Madrid, Diógenes Hernández, Gonzalo Pincheira, Ana Karina Peralta, Miguel Urrestarazu Gavilán, Victor Vergara-Carmona, Fernando Fuentes-Peñailillo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-07-01
• Series: Agronomy
• Subjects: horticulture; environment; crop production; pollutant agent
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/11/8/1528

The presence of micro and nanoplastics in the food chain constitutes an emergent multifactorial food safety and physiological stress problem, which must be approached with a strategic perspective since it affects public health when consuming products that have this pollutant, such as fish and crustaceans, fruits, and vegetables. In this review, the authors present the results by scientists from different disciplines who are dedicated to discovering their chemical constitution and origin, the contents of these microparticles in edible plants, the contamination of water-irrigated soils, the mechanisms that concentrate microplastics in these soils, methods to determine them, contamination of freshwater sources of cities, and the negative effect of nano and microplastics on various food products and their detrimental impact on the environment. Recent findings of plant uptake mechanisms complement this, but more research is needed.