Honey Quality and Microplastic Migration from Food Packaging: A Potential Threat for Consumer Health?

Abstract

In ancient Greece, people said that “honey is the Food of the Gods”, and they were right. They believed that honey fell from the sky, with the morning dew, on the flowers and leaves, and from this point, the bees collected it. Honey is one of the most nutritious food products, which can be found in most homes. A lot of honey products are stored in different types of packaging materials, including plastics. Plastic packaging has been studied for the migration of plasticizers, chemical compounds, and MPs and NPs in foodstuffs. Most of them have been achieved through food simulations, while some studies managed to detect and isolate MPs/NPs. Recent studies presented evidence for the presence of MPs/NPs in honey products but not directly connected to food packaging or to the different types of honey and their properties (viscosity, pH value, and moisture content) or their storing conditions (temperature, humidity, light, and time). Spectroscopic and analytical techniques like Raman, FTIR, HPLC, and GC-MS are in the foreground for MP/NP detection and identification, but a universal way of isolation, detection, characterization, and quantification has not yet been found. This leaves an open field for more work to be done to clarify the factors affecting the migration of plastic packaging material in honey.

Development and study of the functional properties of marshmallow enriched with bee (Apis mellifera) honey and encapsulated probiotics (Lactobacillus rhamnosus)

“…Additionally, the honey presented a viscosity of 26.1 Pa∙s; this parameter is affected by temperature, floral origin, water content and composition ( 29 ), while the HMF content was 5.57 mg/kg, which is an indicator of freshness since this compound is not present in fresh honey. Improper handling and storage conditions can also lead to its production ( 30 ); likewise, it increases when honey is heated to a high temperature (>100°C) in short periods of time ( 31 ).…”

Conceptualisation of an Ecodesign Framework for Sustainable Food Product Development across the Supply Chain

“…Various literature sources give various titles to ecodesign goals with the same objectives, making it possible to draw similarities between them and group them. Within the context of food design, "hazardous substances" can be interpreted as "toxic" or "harmful" because, when referring to design for reuse (reprocessing of food products), there may be a generation of toxic substances-e.g., migration of microplastics [37] or other substances [38] from the packaging to the product.…”

Evaluation Dangke Cheese Processing by Edible Film Coating Made from Whey Combined with Konjac Flour

“…EFs are type coatings like films, sheets, or thin layers as an integral of product food and can be consumed together with packaged products [3,4]. Besides, to reduce the characteristic brittle of the resulting film, added material plasticizer (sorbitol) [5,6], increasing the height of the plasticizer used, produces more characteristics of plastic that are not healthy for human consumption [7]. The EF made from this organic material can be one solution for reducing the pollution of the environment [8].…”