Microplastics in Agriculture and Food Science

Methods for Identification and Remediation

1st Edition - February 1, 2025
Editors: Pasquale Avino, Cristina Di Fiore, Stefano Farris
Language: English
Paperback ISBN:
9 7 8 - 0 - 4 4 3 - 2 2 2 1 0 - 8
eBook ISBN:
9 7 8 - 0 - 4 4 3 - 2 2 2 1 1 - 5

Microplastics in Agriculture and Food Science: Methods for Identification and Remediation presents fundamental insights into the sources of microplastics and their impact on import… Read more

Purchase options

Limited Offer

Save 50% on book bundles

Immediately download your ebook while waiting for your print delivery. No promo code needed.

Institutional subscription on ScienceDirect

Request a sales quote

Microplastics in Agriculture and Food Science: Methods for Identification and Remediation presents fundamental insights into the sources of microplastics and their impact on important resources – agricultural, food, and environmental. Including insights into these highly related fields, the book is the first to enable cross- and multi-disciplinary understanding and application. With insights on analytical methods including the challenges, this book addresses microplastics from the farm to the food pyramid, highlighting the issues they raise and the options for removing them. Written by a global team of experts, this volume will contribute to the further understanding and addressing of this increasing global challenge.

Microplastics are the tiny particles created during plastic production as well as those particles remaining when plastic degrades and breaks down. They are sometimes difficult to identify, and the methods for qualifying and classifying them are not always clear despite the importance of their recognition and remediation.

Part I: The Contaminants of the 21st Century: An Introduction to Microplastics

1. Plastics in the Agricultural Field

2. Plastics in the Food Sector

3. Principle Plastic Polymers in Agricultural and Food Sectors

4. From Plastics to Microplastics

Part II: Analytical Methodologies for Microplastics Determination: between Limitations and Innovations

5. Sampling Methods for Microplastics Determination

6. Pre-treatment of Food and Agricultural Matrices for Microplastics Extraction

7. Analytical Methodologies for Qualification of Microplastics

8. Quantification of Microplastics: A Call for Method Harmonization

9. Polymer Solubilization: A Potential Solution for Microplastics Quantification

10. Quality Assurance and Quality Control: The Prevention of Airborne Contamination

Part III: Microplastics in agriculture

11. Microplastics Contamination in Soil

12. Microplastics Contamination in Crops

13. Artificial Crop Irrigation and Microplastics

14. Microplastics and Agricultural Vehicle Tires

15. Fertilizers and Microplastics Contamination of Crops

16. Atmospheric Particulates and Microplastics

Part IV: Microplastics in farm animals

17. Feed Production Process and Microplastics Contamination

18. Microplastics in Farm Animals: Health Effects

19. Microplastics: From Animal to Human

Part V: Microplastics in the food sector

20. Food Processing and microplastics

21. Food Packaging and Potential Microplastics Release

22. Food Pyramid and Microplastics

Part VI: Human exposure to microplastics

23. Are We Eating Microplastics?

24. Microplastics in Food Production and Agricultural Environments

Part VII: Contaminants associated with microplastics

25. Microplastics and plasticizers

26. Microplastics and organic contaminants

27. Microplastics and inorganic contaminants

Part IIX: Fate of microplastics and toxicological studies

28. Translocation of microplastics in human tissue

29. Microplastics and potential damage to human cells

30. 3-D models for studing microplastics effects on humans

Part IX: Additional Topics and Considerations

31. Use of agricultural products as bio-indicators

32. Potential solutions in the agriculture and food sector

33. Regulatory Gaps in Microplastics Field in food and agriculture sectors

Pasquale Avino

Prof. Avino studies the development of innovative analytical methodologies for development and application of analytical and sampling methods for the qualitative and quantitative determination of chemical compounds (e.g., contaminants, pollutants, nutrients) in food, agricultural, biological and anthropogenic matrices. These studies are aimed at evaluating inorganic and organic species present at trace and ultra-trace levels in food and environmental (smoke, air, water and soil) matrices, as well as the evaluation of the environmental and human health risks related to the exposure/ingestion of such compounds. In 1998 he received both the “Group Achievement NASA Award” and the “Next Generation Award” ( 22nd International Symposium on Chromatography). He has also received the “Environmental Sapio” Award for his research in the environmental field and in particular in the atmospheric particulate matter problems. Prof. Avino is author and co-author of scientific publications including original papers published in national and international journals and books.

Affiliations and expertise

Associate Professor, Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, University of Molise, Campobasso, Italy

Cristina Di Fiore

Cristina DiFiore is a Ph.D. student working in the Analytical Chemistry group working on the research on microplastics in several matrices. She has previously published with Prof. Dr. Avino

Affiliations and expertise

Ph.D. student, Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, Università degli Studi del Molise, Italy

Stefano Farris

Stefano Farris is Full Professor at the Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences (DeFENS) – University of Milan. His research focuses on the design and development of new high-performance materials using mainly biomacromolecules, by means of different approaches such as soft chemistry and nanotechnology. His research firstly deals with fundamental aspects to provide new suitable practical solutions, especially for the food packaging sector. This is accomplished by strong and fruitful collaborations with several industrial partners.

Affiliations and expertise

Professor, Food Science and Technology, University of Milan, Italy. International expert of food packaging, Department of Food, Environmental, and Nutritional Sciences, Food Packaging Lab., University of Milan, Italy.