Studies published in Food Chemistry found microplastics in every commercial olive oil they tested — so olive oil does have microplastics, and the plastic comes from the extraction and bottling chain, not the olives. A 2024 study of olive and vegetable oils from Italy and Spain measured a mean of about 1,140 particles per liter, mostly fragments under 100 microns and dominated by polyethylene and polypropylene — and found no significant difference between oils bottled in glass and in plastic. A 2025 study using Laser Direct InfraRed imaging found microplastics even in extra-virgin oils collected straight from Tuscan mills. The important caveats: the studies measured how much plastic is present, not proven harm; and because oil is a fat, it also pulls plasticizer chemicals out of any plastic it touches.
Olive oil looks like one of the cleanest things in the kitchen: crushed olives, nothing added. But the oil that leaves a modern mill has already passed through crushers, mixers, pumps, plastic tubing, filters and storage tanks before it ever reaches a bottle — and researchers who went looking found microplastics in all of it. So the intuitive guess that a good bottle of extra-virgin is “pure” runs into the same pattern that shows up across foods people assume are safe, from sugar to rice to packaged food: the plastic rarely comes from the food itself, it comes from what surrounds it.
This guide walks through exactly what the studies found — the ~1,140 particles per liter in the Italy-and-Spain study, where the plastic actually enters between the grove and your bottle, and whether extra-virgin or glass-bottled oil is any cleaner — whether the amounts are worth worrying about (the honest answer is calmer than the headlines), plus the one concern that's specific to oil: because fat dissolves plasticizers, olive oil can leach chemicals out of a plastic bottle in a way water does not.
The bottom line up front: the microplastics in olive oil come from the plastic-heavy extraction and bottling chain, not the olives — so the fixes are about the container and the source, not giving up olive oil. Buy oil in dark glass or tin rather than plastic, favor shorter, small-mill supply chains, store it cool and out of the light, never heat or store oil in plastic, and make your daily default filtered tap water. For the bigger picture, see why tap water is a top source, our ranking of which foods have the most microplastics, and the room-by-room kitchen plastic detox guide.
Does olive oil have microplastics, and how much?
Yes — and the evidence is recent and consistent. A 2024 study in Food Chemistry, “Analysis of microplastics in commercial vegetable edible oils from Italy and Spain,” tested extra-virgin olive oil, olive oil and other vegetable oils and found microplastics in every sample, averaging about 1,140 particles per liter. Most were fragments smaller than 100 microns (about 78 percent) and the dominant polymers were polyethylene (roughly 50 percent) and polypropylene (about 29 percent) — the plastics used in tubing, seals and packaging. Tellingly, the researchers found no significant difference between oils bottled in glass and in plastic.
A 2025 Food Chemistry study went further, using Laser Direct InfraRed (LDIR) imaging — a highly sensitive technique — on extra-virgin olive oils from University of Florence researchers. It found microplastics in all samples, including oils collected directly from Tuscan mills, though oils from those shorter, small-mill supply chains ran lower (roughly 10 to 1,700 particles per liter, most under 350) than mass-distribution oils. Because even mill-fresh oil carried plastic, the source has to be the production chain itself, not just the bottle — the same underlying story as a glass of tap water: measured presence, addressable source.
Where do the microplastics in olive oil come from?
From the production chain, and none of it is the olive on the tree. Modern olive oil is made in a continuous line: olives are washed and crushed, the paste is slowly mixed (malaxed), and the oil is separated in a centrifuge, then pumped through hoses, passed over filters, and held in tanks before bottling. Plastic touches the oil at many of those steps — hoses, seals, gaskets, filter media and tank liners — and airborne synthetic fibers settle on open oil, just as they do on sugar at the refinery. The bottle is the last contact point, not the main one, which is why glass and plastic bottles tested the same.
There is also a second, oil-specific route that a particle count doesn't capture. Because oil is a fat, it is unusually good at dissolving chemicals out of plastic — plasticizers such as phthalates — from any plastic it sits in or is heated in. That's a migration issue on top of the particles, and it's the strongest reason to keep oil out of plastic entirely. The table below sorts out where the plastic in a typical bottle of olive oil actually originates.
| Source | What Happens | Contribution |
|---|---|---|
| Extraction & processing line | Crushing, malaxing, centrifuging and pumping through plastic hoses, seals and gaskets sheds particles into the oil (found even in mill-fresh oil) | Major — sets the floor |
| Filtration & storage tanks | Filter media and plastic-lined holding tanks add particles during clarification and storage | Moderate to major |
| Airborne fibers | Synthetic fibers settle onto open oil and equipment in mill and bottling-plant air | Moderate |
| Plastic bottle (chemicals) | Fat dissolves plasticizers such as phthalates out of PET/plastic bottles — worse with heat, light and time | Minor for particles, notable for chemical migration |
| Long supply chain | More handling, transfers and storage steps mean more plastic-contact points (mass-distribution oils ran higher than small-mill oils) | Moderate |
Is extra-virgin or glass-bottled olive oil lower in microplastics?
Not reliably — and this is the part people get wrong. The instinct is that a premium, cold-pressed, glass-bottled extra-virgin oil must be cleaner than a cheap plastic-jug blend. But the 2024 study found no significant difference between oils bottled in glass and in plastic, and the 2025 study found microplastics in extra-virgin oils including ones taken straight from the mill. What did move the numbers was supply-chain length: oils from short, small-mill chains ran lower than mass-distribution oils. So the grade and the bottle matter less than how many plastic-contact steps the oil passed through on the way to you.
Put the numbers in scale before they alarm you. About 1,140 particles per liter sounds like a lot, but you use olive oil by the tablespoon, not the liter, and a widely cited 2019 analysis estimated the average person already consumes tens of thousands of microplastic particles a year from food, drink and air combined — with drinking water, especially bottled, a far larger driver than any single food. Olive oil is a real and measurable source, but a small one next to the daily total. What makes the finding useful isn't the size of the number — it's that the sources are specific and addressable.
"Olive oil doesn't get its microplastics from the olives — it gets them from the line that presses it, the tanks that hold it, and the plastic it's poured into. Every one of those is a lever you can pull."
Does olive oil leach chemicals from plastic bottles?
This is the concern that's specific to oil, and it matters as much as the particle count. Oil is lipophilic — fats are unusually effective at dissolving and extracting plasticizers, such as phthalates, from the plastic they contact. Water barely does this; oil does it readily, and heat, light and long storage all speed it up. So a bottle of olive oil sitting in a clear plastic jug on a warm shelf, or oil dispensed from a plastic squeeze bottle by the stove, is a genuinely worse setup for chemical migration than the same oil in dark glass or tin.
The practical implication is simple: keep olive oil out of plastic at every step you control. Buy it in dark glass or a tin, decant a big tin into a glass cruet rather than a plastic dispenser, never microwave or heat oil in a plastic container, and don't leave a plastic-bottled oil next to the stove or in a sunny window. It's the same reasoning we apply to heating food in plastic and to the “BPA-free” label that doesn't automatically mean safe — a reassuring container isn't the same as an inert one.
Is olive oil still worth using?
Yes — unequivocally. Nothing in these studies is a reason to cut back on olive oil, and the researchers don't suggest it. Extra-virgin olive oil is one of the best-studied healthy fats there is, rich in monounsaturated fat and polyphenols and central to the Mediterranean diet. The finding is about an avoidable contaminant riding along with a good food, not about the food itself being harmful. Switching away from olive oil over microplastics — especially toward a heavily refined seed oil in a plastic jug — would trade a real health benefit for no clear gain.
So the takeaway isn't “stop using olive oil” — it's to manage the plastic that surrounds it. That mirrors a theme across this site and one of the most common microplastics myths: the plastic is almost never in the food itself, it's in the chain around it. The dependable move isn't chasing a perfect, plastic-free bottle; it's buying oil in glass or tin from a shorter supply chain, storing it well, and cleaning up the bigger, steadier sources like the water you drink all day.
Are the microplastics in olive oil dangerous?
Here's where honesty matters. These studies were designed to measure how many particles are present, what shape and size they are, and what polymers they're made of — not to test what those particles do once they're inside a person. On the narrow question of harm from the microplastics in olive oil, the research doesn't have a verdict yet, and no one should read one into it. A few tablespoons of oil is also a small figure next to overall exposure, so proportion, not fear, is the right frame.
A widely cited 2019 analysis in Environmental Science & Technology estimated the average person already swallows tens of thousands of microplastic particles a year from food and drink combined, with tap and especially bottled water a large driver; a drizzle of olive oil is one modest contributor within that total. What we do know more broadly is that microplastics are increasingly detected throughout the human body — in blood, organs, and even the brain — so trimming an avoidable source is sensible even while the particle-harm question stays open. The good news is how addressable this one is.
You don't need a scare to act on this one. Keep using olive oil — just buy it in dark glass or tin, keep it cool and out of the light, and never heat or store it in plastic. Then spend the rest of your effort on the bigger, more constant sources in our kitchen plastic detox guide, starting with the water you drink all day.
How do you reduce the microplastics in olive oil?
Because the sources are the processing chain and plastic contact, the fixes are about what you buy and how you store it, not giving up olive oil. Choose oil in dark glass or a tin rather than a clear plastic bottle — not because glass tested lower for particles, but because it stops the fat from leaching plasticizers, and dark glass and tin also protect the oil from light. Favor a shorter supply chain where you can — a single-estate or small-mill oil passes through fewer plastic-contact steps than a mass-market blend. And store it cool, dark and out of plastic: decant into a glass cruet, keep it off the windowsill and away from the stove, and never heat oil in a plastic container — when you cook with it, reach for inert stainless steel, cast iron or ceramic cookware rather than a scratched nonstick pan.
The highest-leverage move, though, isn't about oil at all — it's the source you use every hour you're awake. Filter the tap water you drink and cook with, because the water going through your body all day is a bigger and more constant microplastic source than any one food, and it's the one you can genuinely clean: a pitcher certified under NSF/ANSI 401 or built around a rated membrane pore size cuts particle counts sharply. See our guide to the best water filter pitchers for microplastics and the broader water filter roundup — or, if you’d rather filter at the tap, the best faucet water filters. Keep your oil, spreads and leftovers in glass, and you've closed off the sources you actually control. The picks below are the simplest, longest-lasting ways to do all of that.
Fix the sources that actually matter
Glass-bottled oil and cool, dark storage handle the plastic around your olive oil — but the water you drink all day is the bigger, steadier source. Start where it counts: filter your tap water and store food in glass instead of plastic.
The swaps that cut the most plastic around your oil
You can't filter oil at home, and there's no such thing as a certified “microplastic-free” olive oil to buy. So instead of padding this out with products that don't exist, here are the real, currently-sold tools that address the sources you actually control — certified water filters for the bigger daily source, plus glass and platinum-silicone storage to keep your oil, spreads and leftovers off plastic. Prices and availability change, so check current listings.
1. Epic Pure Water Filter Pitcher — Best Overall for Microplastics
Best Overall
Reviewers point to published independent lab data and a filter rated around 150 gallons, far longer than a Brita, as the reasons they trust it, and several describe the slow, deliberate drip as reassuring rather than annoying. The honest downsides: owners report the filtration is genuinely slow and not the pick if you want a glass of water in a hurry, and third-party complaints mention cracked plastic, flip-top lids that stick, and water that spills or leaks from the lid when you pour a full pitcher.
The clearest evidence on this list: Epic posts its independent lab results publicly, so you can see the 99.9% microplastic-removal data instead of trusting a slogan on the box.
Why it's safe: The hollow fiber membrane physically blocks microplastic particles down to ~1 micron, while the carbon stage handles chlorine, lead, and PFAS — all in a BPA-free Tritan body.
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The water you drink and cook with all day — the glass you fill at the tap, the pot you boil pasta in, the water you simmer a sauce with your olive oil — is usually a bigger and steadier microplastic source than any one food, and it's the input you control most tightly, which makes a good filter the highest-leverage swap on this list. The Epic Pure is the clearest choice: its dual-stage design uses a hollow fiber membrane as the primary microplastic barrier, and Epic publishes the independent lab results to back the 99.9% removal claim — transparency most competitors don't match.
2. Waterdrop Chubby 10-Cup Pitcher — Best Filter Life
Best Filter Life
Owners like the look and the long 200-gallon filter life, and roughly 80 percent of reviews land positive, with the common praise being clean-tasting water at a low cost per gallon. The honest gripes: several owners warn the handle can feel loose or strain under a full pitcher, so they lift with two hands; some report the pour spills if you tip too fast; and the change-filter indicator light draws complaints for not lighting or not staying lit.
A membrane blocks particles by pore size rather than by claim list, and its 200-gallon filter runs about 4 to 5 months — the lowest ongoing cost on the list.
Why it's safe: A hollow fiber membrane is a physical barrier to particles, while the carbon composite handles chlorine, heavy metals, and PFAS — all in a BPA/BPS-free body.
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If you're filtering the water you drink and cook with all day, you'll run water through a filter constantly — so filter life matters, and the Waterdrop Chubby leads on it: a hollow fiber membrane on Waterdrop's own published lab data, plus 200 gallons per filter (about 4–5 months for most households). The "filter while you pour" design works just like a familiar counter pitcher, but with a membrane that's actually tested for microplastics.
3. Aquagear Water Filter Pitcher — Best Value
Best Value
Owners choose it for broad contaminant removal and clean taste, and some lab testing found it did not clog. The honest downsides: the most repeated complaint is slow filtration, described by one reviewer as a mixed bag between people waiting minutes and people waiting hours, and it can worsen as the filter ages; and the design draws gripes, with the pour-spout cover popping out and spraying water and a lid that fits poorly and can pop off mid-pour.
Change the filter half as often as most pitchers — 150 gallons per cartridge means fewer replacements, lower annual cost, and less to remember.
Why it's safe: A 5-stage filter with a sub-micron membrane stage captures microplastics, lead, fluoride, and chlorine, in a BPA-free body with USA-made filter media.
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The Aquagear costs more upfront but its 150-gallon filter life means lower annual replacement costs than most competitors, and the pitcher body is guaranteed for life. It uses a 5-stage filter with a sub-micron membrane stage that targets microplastics, heavy metals, and fluoride — a good fit for households that don't want to track filter changes constantly.
4. Lifefactory Glass Bottle 22oz — Best Glass Bottle
Best Glass Bottle
Olive oil is a small, occasional source; the water you drink all day is the steady one — and this is how you carry the clean version. It’s made from borosilicate glass, the same material used in laboratory glassware, which is thermally stable, chemically inert, and completely free of BPA, BPS, and any polymer contact with your drink. It imparts no taste, so water tastes like water. The protective silicone sleeve adds grip and guards against shattering.
The screw cap contains a small polypropylene component — the only plastic in the system, and it sits at the exterior closure rather than the drink surface. Rinse it like any cap and it stays a non-issue. Dishwasher-safe, and sturdy enough for daily desk-and-bag use.
Owners love that water tastes clean with no plastic aftertaste and that the silicone sleeve makes the glass easy to grip and survive the occasional drop. The honest downsides: it’s heavier than a plastic or steel bottle, the glass can still break if dropped on a hard edge, and some reviewers find the flip-cap spout narrow or report the cap can leak if not fully closed.
Carry the filtered water you made at home instead of buying bottled — no plastic contact, no leaching, and it cleans up in the dishwasher.
Why it's safe: Borosilicate glass is completely inert — it never leaches, never sheds microplastics, and imparts no taste. The only plastic is a small cap component at the exterior closure, not the drink surface.
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Olive oil is worth managing, but water is the source you touch most. Carrying filtered water in a reusable glass or stainless steel bottle — or a dedicated filtered water bottle — gives you grab-and-go hydration without the PET — no shedding, no leaching, no plastic aftertaste — so the packaged bottle stops being the default.
5. Glasslock Oven Safe Container Set (3-Pack) — Best Glass Storage
Best Glass Storage
Longtime owners like that the glass bodies are oven-, microwave-, and freezer-safe and that the snap-lock lids seal tight. The honest downsides run through the lids, not the glass: reviewers report cracked lids, snapped locking tabs, and mold building up in the rubber gaskets if they are not dried well. Some buyers also received sets with a locking piece missing, and several flag slow, hard-to-reach customer service when they needed a replacement part.
Three stackable glass containers in one box — enough to store a week of leftovers and prepped ingredients without a single plastic tub.
Why it's safe: Your food sits on inert tempered glass, not plastic — so warm, acidic, watery foods can’t leach or pick up shed particles. The BPA-free lids seal with a food-grade silicone gasket that only touches the rim.
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Glass storage is the direct fix for the container half of this problem: keep oil-rich leftovers, pesto, salad dressings and marinades in inert glass rather than plastic tubs, where the fat would otherwise pull plasticizers out of the plastic — and store the rest of your leftovers off plastic while you're at it, reheating with the lids off so warm food never sits against plastic. At roughly ten dollars per container, it's also the cheapest way to retire your plastic food tubs in one purchase.
6. Stasher Reusable Silicone Bag Starter Kit — Best Silicone Bag
Best Silicone Bag
Freezing portions of soup, sauce and batch-cooked meals is one of the best ways to keep food without plastic film — and Stasher’s platinum-cured silicone is the upgrade for it: sturdier than any disposable bag and free of the chemicals that migrate from plastic. The patented Pinch-Loc seal is genuinely airtight and leakproof, so food doesn’t dry out or pick up freezer odors.
It’s freezer safe to -70°F and goes straight to the microwave or a 425°F oven. The starter kit covers the everyday sizes — sandwich, snack, and stand-up half-gallon — so you can retire a whole box of single-use bags in one purchase.
Owners like that the platinum silicone bags go from freezer to microwave and replace throwaway plastic for years. The honest gripes: smell and stain retention come up often, with reviewers noting garlic and strong odors linger even after washing; the pinch-lock seal can be fiddly to open and close; and the seams are slow to dry, which can invite mildew if you do not air them out.
Store herbs, batch-cooked food, and frozen portions in airtight silicone instead of plastic film — then thaw and reheat in the same bag, no transfer needed.
Why it's safe: Platinum-cured silicone — the highest-purity, chemically inert grade — with no plastic, PVC, BPA, lead, latex, phthalates, or PFAS.
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Batch-cooked food, fresh herbs, and frozen portions are exactly the things people stash in flimsy plastic bags and cling film — and a reusable silicone bag is one of the simplest ways to keep them without the plastic. A multi-size silicone kit replaces the whole box at once, seals airtight, and goes from freezer to microwave in the same bag. For the full lineup, see our guide to the best silicone food storage bags.
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The honest verdict
Does olive oil have microplastics? Yes — studies in Food Chemistry found microplastics in every commercial olive oil they tested, averaging about 1,140 particles per liter in one Italy-and-Spain study and turning up even in extra-virgin oils taken straight from Tuscan mills in another. But the crucial detail is why. It isn't that olive oil is uniquely dangerous — it's that the oil passes through a plastic-heavy extraction and bottling chain (crushers, hoses, seals, filters and tanks) that sheds particles, plus the oil-specific problem that fat pulls plasticizer chemicals out of any plastic it touches. Extra-virgin and glass-bottled oils aren't reliably cleaner for particles, because the source is the processing chain, not the grade or the bottle. The studies measured presence, not proven harm, and a few tablespoons is a small slice of overall exposure. So the accurate takeaway is proportion, not alarm — and the fact that the sources are specific and addressable.
The practical response is easy, because the culprits are the container and the supply chain. Buy oil in dark glass or a tin rather than a plastic bottle, favor a shorter, small-mill supply chain, and store it cool, dark and out of plastic — never heat or dispense oil from plastic. Keep using olive oil — it's one of the healthiest fats there is, and swapping it for a refined seed oil in a plastic jug would be a step backward. And above all, filter the tap water you drink and cook with, since the water going through your body all day is the bigger, more constant source and the one you can genuinely make cleaner. You don't need a plastic scare to act on this one — a change of container handles most of it.
Cut the plastic that actually adds up
A drizzle of olive oil is small next to the water you drink all day. A certified filter and glass storage make clean water and plastic-free food your easy default.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Studies published in Food Chemistry found microplastics in every commercial olive oil they tested. A 2024 study of vegetable oils from Italy and Spain measured a mean of about 1,140 particles per liter, mostly fragments under 100 microns and dominated by polyethylene and polypropylene, and it found no significant difference between oils bottled in glass and in plastic. A 2025 study using Laser Direct InfraRed imaging found microplastics even in extra-virgin oils collected straight from Tuscan mills. The plastic doesn't come from the olives — it enters along the extraction and bottling chain.
From the production chain, not the fruit. Olives are crushed, mixed (malaxed) and separated using stainless steel and plastic equipment, plastic tubing and hoses, filtration media and storage tanks, and airborne synthetic fibers settle on open oil before it is bottled. Because the 2024 study found glass and plastic bottles made no significant difference, and the 2025 study found even mill-fresh oil contaminated, researchers point to the processing and supply chain rather than the bottle alone as the main route in.
The most representative figure is from the 2024 Italy-and-Spain study: a mean of about 1,140 ± 350 particles per liter across extra-virgin olive oil, olive oil and other vegetable oils, with roughly 81 percent fragments and 78 percent under 100 microns. A 2025 study of extra-virgin olive oils found a wide range — Tuscan mill oils roughly 10 to 1,700 particles per liter, most under 350, with large-distribution oils higher. Counts vary with the method: a study that measures down to about one micron reported far higher numbers because most particles are very small.
Not reliably. The 2024 study found no significant difference between oils bottled in glass and in plastic, and the 2025 study found microplastics in extra-virgin oils including ones taken directly from mills — though oils from shorter, small-mill supply chains tended to be lower than mass-distribution oils. So the grade and the bottle matter less than how many plastic-contact steps the oil passed through. Glass or tin is still the better container, mainly because oil is a fat that can pull plasticizer chemicals out of plastic.
This is the concern specific to oil. Oil is lipophilic — fats are unusually good at dissolving and extracting plasticizers such as phthalates from plastic they contact. That is a chemical-migration issue separate from the particle counts, and it is the strongest reason to choose olive oil sold in dark glass or tin rather than a clear plastic bottle, to avoid heating oil in plastic, and not to store or dispense oil from plastic squeeze bottles left in a warm kitchen.
The studies measured how many particles are present, not what they do inside the body, so they don't establish harm — and olive oil is one contributor within a yearly total that a 2019 analysis put at tens of thousands of particles from food, drink and air combined. Olive oil is a genuinely healthy fat, and no study suggests avoiding it. The useful takeaway is proportion: choose oil in glass or tin, store it cool and dark, and spend most of your effort on the bigger, steadier source — the water you drink all day.
Sources
- Battaglini E, et al. "Analysis of microplastics in commercial vegetable edible oils from Italy and Spain." Food Chemistry, 2024. (Found microplastics in every olive- and vegetable-oil sample; mean ~1,140 ± 350 particles/L, ~81% fragments and ~78% under 100 µm, dominated by polyethylene (~50%) and polypropylene (~29%), with no significant difference between glass and plastic bottles.)
- Vita C, Ascolese M, Borsacchi L, Gori R, Pinelli P. "Characterization of microplastics in extra-virgin olive oils by Laser Direct InfraRed (LDIR) spectroscopy." Food Chemistry (University of Florence), 2025. (Detected microplastics in all extra-virgin olive oil samples, including oils collected directly from Tuscan mills; oils from shorter small-mill supply chains ran lower — roughly 10–1,700 particles/L, most under 350 — than large-distribution oils.)
- Guo X, Dai H, Gukowsky J, Tan X, He L. "Detection and quantification of microplastics in commercially bottled edible oil." Food Packaging and Shelf Life, 2023. (Using a method sensitive to about one micron, found ~1.3×10⁵ to ~5.8×10⁵ particles/L across bottled edible oils including olive oil, over 80% smaller than 10 µm, mostly polyethylene and polypropylene.)
- Cox KD, Covernton GA, Davies HL, et al. "Human Consumption of Microplastics." Environmental Science & Technology, 2019;53(12):7068–7074. (Estimated the average person consumes roughly 39,000–52,000 microplastic particles per year from food and drink combined, with drinking water — especially bottled — a large driver.)
- Kosuth M, Mason SA, Wattenberg EV. "Anthropogenic contamination of tap water, beer, and sea salt." PLOS ONE, 2018;13(4):e0194970. (Found microplastics widespread across tap water and other everyday staples — the basis for making filtered tap water the daily default.)