Does Aluminium foil have microplastics?
The short answer
No polymer at all — bare foil is one of the very few food-contact products with no plastic anywhere in it, unlike the lined can it is often confused with. If you are replacing cling film, this is the swap that requires nothing new.
Why Aluminium foil scores 11
Unlined metal — the liner that exists inside a can is absent from a sheet of foil
No polymer means no particle pathway of any kind
Aluminium does migrate into acidic and salty food, which is a mineral question and a real one
Non-stick and heavy-duty foils sometimes carry a coating — the packaging says so
Where the 11 comes from
Five components, added. The page renders the parts rather than a stored total, so the number cannot disagree with the reasoning behind it.
- Packaging contact
- 2 / 30
- Use conditions
- 6 / 25
- Measured release
- 3 / 25
- Polymer behaviour
- 0 / 10
- Processing
- 0 / 10
What material touches the contents, over how much surface area, for how long. Glass and steel score near zero here; a film pressed against fatty food scores near the top.
Heat, abrasion, flexing, repeated opening, reuse beyond design life. The same bottle scores differently in a fridge and in a hot car.
What a laboratory actually counted, for this product or its category. A high number here means real particles were measured, not that the material looks suspicious.
How this specific polymer behaves — brittleness, fat solubility of its additives, thermal stability, whether it is a polymer named in existing restrictions.
What happened before you bought it. Retort sterilisation inside the pack, hot-filling, and pressurised brewing all happen at the most migration-favourable moment.
What we don't know
The aluminium-migration literature is separate and worth knowing about: acidic foods like tomato and citrus, especially when cooked in foil, pick up measurable aluminium. That is a different concern from microplastics, it is better evidenced, and it is the reason we do not simply call foil the answer to everything.
This section is on every page in the database, including the ones where the answer is comfortable. How evidence grades work →
Better options
Ordered by how much they change, not by how much they cost.
Already free of polymer
use parchment or a lid for acidic food
Glass or ceramic with a lid
reusable, and no aluminium question either
Check the one in your kitchen
This page scores Aluminium foil as a product. Formulations, packaging and suppliers change, and the specific item you own has its own condition — a scratched pan and a new one are not the same object. Scan yours for a score built from what is actually in front of you.
Scan my householdSources behind this score
Each with the finding we use it for and the limitation that finding carries — because a study quoted without its boundaries is how this subject got so noisy.
- report2026
Earth Action 2026 — Estimated roughly 1,000 tonnes of microplastics migrate from packaging into food and drink annually — about 130 mg per person per year — with PET bottles responsible for around a third, and found UV exposure can raise release up to 100×.
Limitation: An industry-funded modelling exercise, not a laboratory study, and not peer-reviewed. We use it for the relative ranking of formats rather than for any absolute number.
- agency2026
US FDA — States that current scientific evidence does not demonstrate that the levels of microplastics detected in foods pose a risk to human health, while listing detection and characterisation as a research priority.
Limitation: A statement about the state of evidence, not a finding of safety. "Not demonstrated to be harmful" and "demonstrated to be harmless" are different claims, and the agency is explicit that the research is ongoing.
- peer-reviewed2018
Schymanski 2018 — Compared formats head to head: single-use PET averaged 14 particles/L, returnable PET 118/L, glass bottles 50/L and beverage cartons 11/L.
Limitation: The glass result is the one people skip. Glass was not zero — particles came from the cap and the filling line, not the bottle wall. Small sample per format.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Aluminium foil have microplastics?
How was the Aluminium foil score of 11 calculated?
Is Aluminium foil safe?
Why is the confidence only 58%?
Scored next to this
Parchment paper
Cellulose paper with a silicone release coating
Grade C · 55%
Cling film / plastic wrap
LDPE, PVC or PVDC film
Grade C · 60%
Canned tomatoes
Steel can with an epoxy or acrylic internal liner
Grade C · 58%
← All 132 products · How to avoid microplastics · Methodology