A researcher at Sakarya University in northwest Turkey discovered 13,000 microplastic particles in the water from a single teabag.
Meral Yurtsever detected microplastics in four of eleven cup bags and all eleven teapot bags of various manufacturers throughout her investigation.
Plastics, which can take millennia to break in nature, could be converted into microplastics, which are particles between one micrometer and five millimeters in size.
Prior research from the Netherlands published its findings in March 2022, revealing for the first time that microplastics have been discovered in human blood.
PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic, which is commonly used in beverage bottles, food packaging, and apparel manufacture, as well as polystyrene, which is used in food and household product packaging, and polyethylene, which is used in a plastic bags, were found in blood samples.
Yurtsever investigated whether microplastics are transmitted to tea during brewing using tea bags as part of a project funded by the Turkish Scientific and Technological Research Institution (TUBITAK).
Yurtsever told Anadolu Agency that the teabag releases at least 13,000 microplastic particles into the beverage.
We can identify microplastic particles up to three micrometers in size using the approach I utilized in my research. “In other words, we may estimate that 13,000 microplastics with diameters ranging from three to five millimeters enter the tea,” she noted.
Yurtsever added that she analyzed 11 teabags and 11 teapot bags of various brands (known as cellulose) in the study and that all of the teapot bags were made of tissue with plastic additions, while four of the teabags were made entirely of cellulose, and seven of them contained plastic.
