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Does Parchment paper have microplastics?

24/ 100

Household

Low exposure

Little or no plastic in contact with the contents. This is the option to switch toward.

Grade C55% confidenceCellulose paper with a silicone release coating
24
0 · no plastic contact100 · constant contact

Two numbers, not one. Exposure is how much plastic contact this involves. Confidence is how much anyone has actually measured. How we score

The short answer

The paper is cellulose; the non-stick comes from a silicone coating. Silicone is far more heat-stable than any carbon-chain plastic, which is why parchment survives an oven — and it is also one of the least-studied food-contact materials there is.

Why Parchment paper scores 24

Where the 24 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
6 / 30

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.

Use conditions
12 / 25

Heat, abrasion, flexing, repeated opening, reuse beyond design life. The same bottle scores differently in a fridge and in a hot car.

Measured release
4 / 25

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.

Polymer behaviour
2 / 10

How this specific polymer behaves — brittleness, fat solubility of its additives, thermal stability, whether it is a polymer named in existing restrictions.

Processing
0 / 10

What happened before you bought it. Retort sterilisation inside the pack, hot-filling, and pressurised brewing all happen at the most migration-favourable moment.

Total exposure24 / 100

What we don't know

Silicone release coatings on paper have not been tested for particle release at baking temperature. The established silicone concern is siloxane oligomer migration into fat at heat, and a tray of roasting vegetables is exactly fat at heat. Nobody has quantified it.

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.

A well-seasoned or oiled metal tray

no coating of any kind

Aluminium foil for savoury roasting

no polymer, though watch acidic food

Unbleached parchment from a brand that states the coating

silicone rather than quilon

Check the one in your kitchen

This page scores Parchment paper 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 household

Sources 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.

  1. peer-reviewed2021

    Ranjan 2021 — A disposable paper cup released roughly 25,000 micron-sized particles into 100 mL of hot water within 15 minutes — about the life of a takeaway coffee.

    Limitation: Hot deionised water rather than coffee or tea, and a single cup type. It shows the polyethylene lining degrades at drinking temperature; it does not quantify a dose from a real latte.

  2. peer-reviewed2023

    Hussain 2023 (Nebraska) — Three minutes of microwaving released up to 4.22 million microplastic and 2.11 billion nanoplastic particles per square centimetre of container surface.

    Limitation: Polypropylene and polyethylene containers with water and acetic acid, not real food. The headline figure is the worst case in the study, per cm², not per meal.

  3. 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.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Parchment paper have microplastics?

The paper is cellulose; the non-stick comes from a silicone coating. Silicone is far more heat-stable than any carbon-chain plastic, which is why parchment survives an oven — and it is also one of the least-studied food-contact materials there is.

How was the Parchment paper score of 24 calculated?

Five components, added: packaging contact 6/30, use conditions 12/25, measured release 4/25, polymer behaviour 2/10 and processing 0/10. The page computes the total from those parts rather than storing it, so the number cannot drift from the reasoning.

Is Parchment paper safe?

The score does not answer that and we will not pretend it does. It measures plastic contact, which is a physical property of the product. Whether a given level of exposure affects health is an open question — the FDA states the current evidence does not demonstrate a risk at the levels found in food, while research such as the 2024 NEJM plaque study gives real reasons to keep studying it. Both are true at once.

Why is the confidence only 55%?

No measurement of the product or its category exists. The score rests on published evidence about how this polymer behaves under these conditions — heat, abrasion, contact time, fat content. Because this is not a direct measurement of the product itself, the score should be read as a well-reasoned estimate that could move if someone tests it.

Scored next to this

11

Aluminium foil

Rolled aluminium, unlined

Low

Grade C · 58%

25

Silicone baking mat

Food-grade silicone on a fibreglass mesh

Moderate

Grade C · 56%

57

PTFE non-stick frying pan

Aluminium or steel with a PTFE (fluoropolymer) coating

Elevated

Grade A · 86%

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