Posted on 07/07/2025 3:07:42 PM PDT by nickcarraway
France’s food safety agency found that glass-bottled drinks, such as iced tea, lemonade, and beer, exhibited some of the highest contamination levels.
-A French food safety agency study found that drinks in glass bottles contained more microplastic particles per liter than those in plastic bottles or cans.
-The researchers traced the microplastics to the exterior paint on plastic-sealed caps, which released particles into the drink.
-Despite being bottled in glass, both water and wine showed fewer microplastics, although the researchers couldn’t determine exactly why.
The evidence showing the harmful effects of microplastics is building up. Study after study shows that microplastics are appearing in our land, food, and even in our brains. While research on how microplastics affect human health is still developing, there is evidence to suggest they negatively affect our gut, liver, and possibly even our DNA. But if you've switched to glass to avoid microplastics, you might want to reconsider.
In late June, France's food safety agency released the findings of a surprising study, which showed that drinks sold in glass bottles contain more microplastics than those in plastic bottles.
Guillaume Duflos, research director at the French food safety agency, explained to AFP that the researchers aimed to "investigate the quantity of microplastics in different types of drinks sold in France and examine the impact different containers can have."
5 Simple Swaps to Reduce Microplastic Exposure in Your Kitchen Their work examined the "impact of different containers," including plastic, glass, brick, can, cubitainer, and included water, tea, lemonade, soda, beer, and wine. And while it found microplastics in all the containers studied, the team concluded that "Counterintuitively, drinks sold in glass bottles were more contaminated by [microplastics]."
But how?
"Experiments have shown that these [microplastics] originate from the exterior paint of capsules," the team wrote, indicating that the plastics are likely coming from the plastic caps on top of the bottle. They added that "a cleaning step before encapsulation can significantly reduce beverage contaminations. However, cleaning does not remove all the [microplastics] from the capsule."
"We expected the opposite result," Iseline Chaib, a PhD student who conducted the research, additionally shared with AFP. "We then noticed that in the glass, the particles emerging from the samples were the same shape, color, and polymer composition — so, therefore, the same plastic — as the paint on the outside of the caps that seal the glass bottles."
And it wasn't by a small margin. The study found that glass bottles of soda, iced tea, beer, and lemonade contained about 100 microplastic particles per liter, which Phys.org explained is up to 50 times higher than the number detected in plastic or cans.
These findings shouldn't surprise regular readers of Food & Wine. As we previously reported, a 2024 study found that the more you open and close a soda bottle, the more microplastics are introduced to the drink through the cap. The researchers discovered that with each additional opening, microplastic levels rose, reaching 46 particles for Coca-Cola by the 20th opening and 62 for Schweppes.
There was, however, some good news in this latest study. The team found that water contained fewer microplastics, as did wine, even in glass bottles. The researchers couldn't determine why.
My percolator is stainless.
Why are the bottlers pouring the beverage over the EXTERIOR paint on the bottle CAPS? This makes no sense whatsoever.
That is not true. The pressure differential of a vacuum tube is 15 PSI at sea level. Soda is pressurized at 55 to 100 PSI.
Compressed air and steam produces airborne particles on those enclosure lids maybe. Compressed air has different types of filters also. Steam injector lines/filters have special requirements and have to be monitored carefully. Water filters are not perfect either.
I wonder about glass bottles made in Australia.. I have a glass of chardonnay from Australia every night. In fact, drinking it now. Just one glass every night; in fact, drinking it now, it’s 5:30 here.
........”They just make this sh*t up out of whole cloth.”
Agree, sounds like total bullschtein to me.
Fine wines have natural corks.
Whew.
My percolator is stainless.
Ditto. Every interior part.
We ditched our drip coffeemaker years ago.
Nothing better than percolator coffee!
Not much Oak in any wine these days.
It’s a true shame.
Don’t the metal caps also contain a plastic liner?
My wife just insisted that we brew coffee using a glass vessel to boil water and a perforated, stainless steel cone to hold the grounds as the boiling water is poured over the grounds to drip into a glass carafe. I made her buy a second carafe and cone to help speed up the process.
[The Graduate not withstanding]
Don’t know.
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