Inside every home cook there is a Michelin-starred chef, experimenting with julienne and dice cuts on his chopping board. An innocuous and indispensable item in the kitchen that sees you cut slices just right. But do you know how it is slowly poisoning you? Yes, the most dangerous item in your kitchen is the regular plastic board you use to chop vegetables and not the sharp knife set.
Recently a tweet went viral which stated that a person swallows plastic equivalent to 10 credit cards every year but cooks on a plastic chopping board. Although this might seem like an exaggerated statistic, it is actually true.
A study has revealed that every cut on a chopping board leaves tiny pieces of plastic, also known as microplastics, in your food, which pose serious health hazards. Microplastics less than 5mm in size contaminate our food and enter our body by sticking to vegetables and meat cut on the board.
Shocking findings
Last year, a study titled ‘Cutting boards: An overlooked source of microplastics in human food?’ examined the amount of microplastics found after using plastic chopping boards. After observation, the researchers concluded that the plastic board generated 1,114 microplastic particles less than 5 mm in size each time it was used. This means that a plastic chopping board releases 15 milligrams of microplastics on every cut and about 50 grams of microplastics in a year, which is equivalent to the weight of about 10 plastic credit cards, infiltrates our body. Plastic boards are an important source of microplastics in the human body. They are also home to bacteria, indentations and grooves are breeding grounds for bacteria. Even thorough cleaning will not help you get rid of bacteria.
Also read: Plastic production threatens 1.5°C limit, new study warns
Harmful to the body
Microplastics are present in the air, water, land and everywhere. These plastic pieces are non-biodegradable, which pollutes the environment. It is even more disturbing when microplastics are absorbed into the bloodstream and tissues, they cannot be eliminated from the body. The only precautions that can be taken are to limit exposure to microplastics. Microplastics present in the body disrupt hormones and the reproductive system, cause blood to clot and cause inflammation, leading to chronic disease.
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So it becomes even more important to ditch plastic chopping boards and welcome safer alternatives like bamboo, marble, wood and wooden chopping boards. Wooden and bamboo boards are antibacterial unlike plastic ones. These may be expensive compared to regular plastic boards, but look at it as an essential investment for your health. Good health is about more than what’s on your plate; it starts with how you prepare it.
