Can microplastics carry pesticides and heavy metals from farm soil into your food?

What's actually in it

Agricultural soil is contaminated with microplastics from plastic mulch films, sewage sludge fertilizers, and irrigation with recycled water. These tiny plastic particles aren't just inert litter. Their surfaces act like sponges, soaking up antibiotics, heavy metals (lead, cadmium, arsenic), and PFAS from the surrounding soil.

When crops grow in this soil, they can take up the microplastics along with the toxins stuck to them. The contaminated particles move through the food chain from field to grocery store to your kitchen.

What the research says

A 2026 review in Environ Int examined how microplastics serve as vectors (carriers) for other pollutants in agricultural systems. The findings show a compounding problem: the microplastics themselves may be harmful, but the toxins hitching a ride on them make things worse.

Microplastics concentrated antibiotic residues on their surfaces at levels hundreds of times higher than the surrounding soil. When crops absorbed these particles, they received a concentrated dose of antibiotics that could promote antibiotic-resistant bacteria in your gut.

Heavy metals like cadmium and lead also bound tightly to microplastic surfaces. Plants absorbed these metal-laden particles more readily than free metals in soil, because the plastic particles were taken up through root systems designed to absorb organic matter.

PFAS showed the strongest binding affinity to microplastics. Once on the plastic surface, PFAS remained stable and were delivered directly into crop tissue.

To reduce exposure, wash and peel produce when possible, buy from farms that minimize plastic mulch use, and vary your produce sources to avoid concentrated contamination from a single farm.