In May 2025, a peer-reviewed article by Iseline Chaïb and other scientists from the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES), gained considerable media attention for their finding that beverages in glass containers had more microplastics than those in plastic (FPF reported).
In response, an international group of microplastics and ecotoxicology researchers, led by Jane Muncke of the Food Packaging Forum, published a comment in the Journal of Food Composition and Analysis on September 19, 2025, highlighting concerns with the study. First is that the ANSES scientists normalized their data by volume, and second that the comparison only considered the material of the final container.
Muncke and co-authors describe how, “if concentrations are normalized per liter (as in the study), the results will overemphasize the microplastic content of comparatively small packages” since smaller packages have a greater surface area to volume ratio. The glass bottles in the ANSES study were generally smaller than their plastic counterparts of the same beverage type. Instead, the ANSES study should have reported the results by the surface area of the plastic components (i.e., the cap for glass bottles) “as laid out in the EU’s plastic FCM regulation (EU 2011, Art. 17.4(a)), since ‘the intended use of the article is known.’”
Additionally, when comparing between beverage types processed in different ways as Chaïb et al. did, it is best to use a study design that can account for micro- and nanoplastic particles “from all the various plastic FCMs used in the food production process, such as the filling lines and storage containers used prior to filling” along with any contamination in the starting materials.
Recent research by the Food Packaging Forum has demonstrated that microplastic contamination in food and beverages can come from food packaging as well as food processing equipment and household cooking and eating utensils (FPF reported). As Muncke et al. conclude, “[e]xplicit guidance on minimizing exposure to micro- and nanoplastics as an emerging type of food contaminant originating from FCMs [food contact materials] is urgently needed.”
Reference
Muncke, J. et al. (2025). “Comment on ‘Microplastic contaminations in a set of beverages sold in France’ by Chaïb et al.” Journal of Food Composition and Analysis. DOI: 10.1016/j.jfca.2025.108310
