WHO KNEW That When We Use Plastic or Polypropylene Cutting Boards, We Are Ingesting Small Pieces of Plastic Each Time We Chop Up Our Food?

In a recent study at North Dakota State University https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/environment/cutting-board-microplastics/, Himani Yadav proved that microplastics from chopping food on plastic cutting boards end up in the food we ingest. The amount released from a board over a year averaged about 7 to 50 grams. A typical credit card weighs about 5 grams, meaning that we ingest the equivalent of one to ten credit cards a year of plastic along with our food! Ingesting microplastics is associated with the production of endocrine disruptors linked to cancers and reproductive system disorders.

Although I will be replacing my plastic boards, Dr.Alex Lebeau PHD, MPH, CIH, in an article in The Kitchn, https://www.thekitchn.com/are-plastic-cutting-boards-safe-23614038 , does not state we must get rid of them. He says that since we are already ingesting so much plastic from bottled water, the air we breathe etc., what’s a bit more! But if you choose to do so, he recommends you replace your plastic and typical wooden boards with bamboo boards to avoid plastic and porous boards that are lessresistant to bacteria. Dr. Lebeau also says that over time both plastic and wooden boards wear out and have hard to clean grooves. When that happens, cutting boards should be discarded.