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Finding the tiny plastic needle in the haystack: how field flow fractionation can help to analyze nanoplastics in food

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Abstract

While the exact health risks associated with nanoplastics are currently the focus of intense research, there is no doubt that humans are exposed to nanoplastics and that food could be a major source of exposure. Nanoplastics are released from plastic materials and articles used during food production, processing, storage, preparation, and serving. They are also likely to enter the food chain via contaminated water, air, and soil. However, very limited exposure data for risk assessment exists so far due to the lack of suitable analytical methods. Nanoplastic detection in food poses a great analytical challenge due to the complexity of plastics and food matrices as well as the small size and expectedly low concentration of the plastic particles. Multidetector field flow fractionation has emerged as a valuable analytical technique for nanoparticle separation over the last decades, and the first studies using the technique for analyzing nanoplastics in complex matrices are emerging. In combination with online detectors and offline analysis, multidetector field flow fractionation is a powerful platform for advanced characterization of nanoplastics in food by reducing sample complexity, which otherwise hampers the full potential of most analytical techniques. The focus of this article is to present the current state of the art of multidetector field flow fractionation for nanoplastic analysis and to discuss future trends and needs aiming at the analysis of nanoplastics in food.

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Acknowledgements

M. Velimirovic is a senior postdoctoral fellow of the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO 12ZD120N).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Kemitorvet 201, 2800, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark

    Katrin Loeschner

  2. Department of Environmental Sciences, Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Janja Vidmar

  3. Department of Environmental and Resource Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Bygningstorvet 115, 2800, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark

    Nanna B. Hartmann

  4. Institute of Marine Research (IMR), Nordnes, P.O. Box 1870, 5817, Bergen, Norway

    André Marcel Bienfait

  5. Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Boeretang 200, 2400, Mol, Belgium

    Milica Velimirovic

  6. Department of Chemistry, Atomic & Mass Spectrometry – A&MS research group, Ghent University, Campus Sterre, Krijgslaan 281-S12, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Milica Velimirovic

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Loeschner, K., Vidmar, J., Hartmann, N.B. et al. Finding the tiny plastic needle in the haystack: how field flow fractionation can help to analyze nanoplastics in food. Anal Bioanal Chem 415, 7–16 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-022-04321-y

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