Microplastic Uptake in Vegetables: Sources, Mechanisms, Transport and Food Safety

Although microplastic pollution has been recognized as one of the major environmental challenges of the 21st century, its toxicological impact on crops, especially vegetables, has until recently attracted limited scientific attention. Vegetables represent a key component of the human diet, making any potential contamination highly relevant to food safety. In recent years, an increasing number of studies have begun to investigate the interactions between microplastics and vegetable crops. This review aims to collect the current knowledge on the sources of microplastics in agroecosystems, the mechanisms of uptake and translocation in plants, and the physiological and biochemical responses induced by micro- and nanoplastics. This work aims to improve the scientific basis for assessing the risk of microplastic contamination by identifying gaps in current understanding and suggesting future research directions.