A study of five different types of seafood found that each test sample contained trace amounts of plastic.
Researchers bought oysters, shrimp, squid, crabs and sardines from a market in Australia and analyzed them using a newly developed method that can simultaneously identify and measure five different plastic types.
The study conducted by the University of Exeter and the University of Queensland found that squid, gram shrimp, shrimp, oysters, shrimp, and sardines were 0.04 mg, 0.07 mg, oyster 0.1 mg, crab 0.3 mg and 2.9 mg, respectively.
Francesca Ribeiro, the lead author of the QUEX Institute, said: “Considering the average consumption, seafood consumers may consume about 0.7 mg of plastic when eating oysters or squid, while eating sardines may consume more. Up to 30mg of plastic." PhD student.
"For comparison, the average weight of each grain of rice is 30 mg.
"Our findings show that the amount of plastic that exists between different species varies greatly, and that there are differences between individuals of the same species.
"From the types of seafood tested, sardines have the highest plastic content, which is a surprising result."
Professor Tamara Galloway, a co-author of the Exeter Institute for Global Systems, said: "We don't fully understand the hazards of ingesting plastics to human health, but this new method will make it easier for us to discover."
The researchers purchased raw seafood-five wild blue crabs, ten oysters, ten farmed tiger prawns, ten wild squids and ten sardines.
Then, they analyzed five plastics that could be identified by the new method.
All these plastics are commonly used in plastic packaging and synthetic textiles, and are often found in marine debris: polystyrene, polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, polypropylene and polymethylmethacrylate.
In the new method, food tissue is treated with chemicals to dissolve the plastic present in the sample. The resulting solution is analyzed using a highly sensitive technique called pyrolysis gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, which can simultaneously identify different types of plastics in the sample.
Polyvinyl chloride was found in all samples, and the plastic with the highest concentration was polyethylene.
Microplastics are very small plastic fragments that will pollute most parts of the earth, including the ocean. All types of marine life eat them, from small larvae and plankton to large mammals.
Research so far has shown that microplastics not only enter our diet from seafood, but also enter the human body from bottled water, sea salt, beer and honey, and dust from food.
The new test method is a step towards defining what trace amounts of plastic are considered harmful and assessing the possible risks of ingesting trace amounts of plastic in food.
