Microplastics in Seafood and Their Impact on Food Safety and Human Health
A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Foods of Marine Origin".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 February 2026 | Viewed by 19
Special Issue Editor
Interests: microplastics in food; food microbiology; foodborne pathogens; food safety; food quality; survival of foodborne pathogens in foods of animal origin; food technology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Plastic pollution is recognized as a serious anthropogenic problem in coastal and marine ecosystems worldwide and is now a new food safety issue. The impact of plastic litter on marine biodiversity depends on the level of plastic pollution and has been identified as one of the major threats to biota. In some cases, microplastics are ingested because they are mistaken for prey, but they are also ingested through water filtration. Microplastic ingestion has also been observed in several marine organisms of commercial interest that are consumed by humans, including fish, cephalopods, mollusks, and crustaceans. Fish species, both those consumed whole, such as bivalve mollusks, and gutted fish, fresh or processed, pose an emerging food safety problem, as environmental contamination and improper gutting and processing can transfer MPs. In addition, microplastics in the marine environment can act as a carrier for chemicals and environmental pollutants that are absorbed from its surface during use and while it remains in the environment. These substances are considered toxic to humans and animals and have carcinogenic, endocrine-disrupting and neurotoxic effects. In addition, plastics can provide a suitable habitat for many microbial communities, which poses an interesting and alarming problem for food safety. Biofilms formed by bacteria colonizing the surface of plastics could become a reservoir for pathogens and algal bloom species, acting as a microcosm in which antibiotic resistance can be transferred to microorganisms lacking this property. This Special Issue will focus on the presence of microplastics in fresh and processed seafood and the potential impact on food safety and human health.
Dr. Angela Dambrosio
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- microplastics
- seafood fresh
- seafood processed
- chemicals and environmental pollutants
- microorganism pathogens
- food safety
- human health
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