The plastics they are finding are nano-sized which are so small they are invisible to the naked eye. The smaller they are, the more harm they can do.

Bottled water contains up to 100 times more plastic than previously estimated, new study says, CBSNews, 9 January 2024

The researchers found 110,000 to 370,000 particles in each liter, according to the study. About 90% of the particles were nanoplastics, while the rest were microplastics.

Here’s the study:
Rapid single-particle chemical imaging of nanoplastics by SRS microscopy, PNAS, 8 January 2024

Daily Mail wrote about the bottled water…
Study: Bottled water contains 240,000 pieces of toxic nanoplastics

… and the meat. It’s in meat too (and tofu):
Now scientists find 90% of all burgers, steaks, chicken and plant-based foods contain cancer-causing microplastics

“Microplastics contamination could be the result of airborne particles or could be shed during food production and distribution, according to the study. Pictured is a plant-based burger being tested.”

Scientists tested 16 types of protein – including chicken nuggets, beef steaks, fish fillets and plant-based burgers – which showed that humans consume plastics no matter the source of protein they choose.

Ninety percent of the products contained nanoplastics – which scientists fear can accumulate in your vital organs with unknown health implications.

The problem is the small size, as CNN describes:

Nanoplastics are the most worrisome type of plastic pollution for human health, experts say. That’s because the minuscule particles can invade individual cells and tissues in major organs, potentially interrupting cellular processes and depositing endocrine-disrupting chemicals such as bisphenols, phthalates, flame retardants, per- and polyfluorinated substances, or PFAS, and heavy metals.

“All of those chemicals are used in the manufacturing of plastic, so if a plastic makes its way into us, it’s carrying those chemicals with it.

“The chemicals can be carried to your liver and your kidney and your brain and even make their way across the placental boundary and end up in an unborn child,” Mason said.

I used to post things like this with the hope that enough people would become similarly outraged that their collective ire would force the hand of industry and plastic production would slow. I now realize that the force of industry is too big to have their profit train derailed by, what they may see as, a bunch of health-conscious squeaks. The government is supposed to be reigning them in, protecting health and the environment, but they (e.g. EPA, FDA) have long ago been captured by the industries they are tasked with regulating. And so … people will try to protect themselves, their own little bodies, but it’s like wearing a raincoat in the sea.