Plastic particles coming from synthetic fibers and soft furnishings in most households may be getting into our food, according to a study from Heriot-Watt University.

Carried by household dust, researchers believe that we could be consuming over 100 pieces of tiny plastic particles with each main meal as the dust containing the plastic particles settles on our plates while we eat.

To demonstrate, researchers placed Petri dishes with sticky dust traps on a table outfitted with dinner plates in three different homes during meal times. At the end of a 20-minute meal, up to 14 pieces of plastic had been captured by each Petri dish. Although that doesn’t seem like a significant amount, considering that dinner plates tend to be much larger than petri dishes, it is roughly equal to 114 pieces of plastic fiber collecting on an average-sized dinner plate in the same amount of time.

As such, the scientists have concluded that the average person is likely ingesting over 68,000 possibly dangerous plastic fibers each year.

Comparing the results of the amount of plastic found in the average household meal to the plastic particles found in mussels, researchers determined that people consuming mussels were only likely to ingest 100 plastic particles a year.

Dr. Ted Henry, senior author of the study and professor of environmental toxicology at Heriot-Watt University, said: "These results may be surprising to some people who may expect the plastic fibers in seafood to be higher than those in household dust."

"We do not know where these fibers come from, but it is likely to be inside the home and the wider environment."

Julian Kirby, of Friends of the Earth, added: "Plastic microfibers found in the dust in our homes and the air we breathe can come from car tires, carpets and soft furnishings, as well as clothes such as fleece jackets. These are regularly shedding tiny bits of plastic into the environment as they are worn away.”

"We urgently need the Government to adopt an action plan to end plastic pollution and research the possible impacts of environmental plastic on human health."