A scientific study showed a significant amount plastic fragments are released through chopping food on polyethylene and polypropylene cutting boards, exposing a person to up to 79 million pieces of plastic a year. Writing for Environmental Science & Technology last year, the scientists who chopped food and studied cutting-board fragments didn't find that the plastic pieces, typically rounded and less than 100 micrometers in diameter, were fatal to mice cells.

Still, the scientists, led by Himani Yadav at North Dakota State University, concluded that their work "identifies plastic chopping boards as a substantial source of microplastics in human food, which requires careful attention."

Fun fact: Chopping certain foods such as carrots tended to release more plastics from some types of cutting boards.

(Photo courtesy American Chemical Society)_