Study finds highest concentration of plastics in sardines among other seafood

A new Australian study found an appalling amount of plastic in practically all the samples of seafood they tasted, which are being consumed.

In the study published in Environmental Science and Technology, conducted by researchers at the University of Queensland and the University of Exeter, it revealed that small pieces of plastic get eaten indiscriminately by marine creatures. This then finds its way into human diets whenever seafood is eaten. So not only does plastic contribute to pollution all over the world, but it also indirectly affects humans.

To find the extent by which marine food is contaminated by microplastics, the researchers bought various kinds of raw seafood from an Australian market. They had five wild blue crabs, 10 farmed tiger prawns, 10 oysters, 10 wild squid, and 10 wild sardines. The researchers then analysed these seafood for five kinds of plastics, which are normally found in marine litter, and utilised for packaging.

Accordingly, researchers found the highest concentration of plastics in sardines. In the sampling size that they got, they found 2.9 mg in sardines, next was crabs at 0.3 mg, then the third was oysters at 0.1 mg, fourth was prawns at 0.07 mg and the least was squids at 0.04 mg.

Lead researcher Francisca Ribeiro, a marine biologist, revealed in a press release that an average eater of seafood could be exposed to approximately 0.7 mg of plastic when he eats an average serving of squids or oysters. She noted that eating sardines exposes one to a higher concentration of plastics as researchers pegged it at 30mg.

Tamara Galloway, co-author and a professor at the University of Exeter stated that they do not fully understand how risky it is for humans to ingest plastic. However, the new method they used for this study, which included treating the tissue samples in chemicals in order to dissolve the plastic that is found in seafood, could make it easier for them to determine it.

More specifically, the method used by the researchers involved a technique called Pyrolysis Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry. This method simultaneously identifies the various kinds of plastics that are found in seafood.

The researchers noted that polyvinyl chloride (PVC) was detected in all samples, but the plastic with the highest concentration was polyethylene. This is the one usually used for film and laminates.

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The researchers stated that what they have found in the study is a huge step towards a determination of the levels of plastic that would prove dangerous to human health. It will also pave the way for a better analysis of the attached risks whenever humans ingest microplastics found in food.