1. Microplastics in Spanish Table Salt.
- Author
-
Iñiguez ME, Conesa JA, and Fullana A
- Subjects
- Environmental Monitoring methods, Food Contamination analysis, Phthalic Acids analysis, Polyethylene analysis, Polyethylene Terephthalates analysis, Polypropylenes analysis, Spain, Plastics analysis, Sodium Chloride, Dietary analysis, Water Pollutants, Chemical analysis
- Abstract
Marine debris is widely recognized as a global environmental problem. One of its main components, microplastics, has been found in several sea salt samples from different countries, indicating that sea products are irremediably contaminated by microplastics. Previous studies show very confusing results, reporting amounts of microparticles (MPs) in salt ranging from zero to 680 MPs/kg, with no mention of the possible causes of such differences. Several errors in the experimental procedures used were found and are reported in the present work. Likewise, 21 different samples of commercial table salt from Spain have been analyzed for MPs content and nature. The samples comprise sea salts and well salts, before and after packing. The microplastic content found was of 50-280 MPs/kg salt, being polyethylene-terephthalate (PET) the most frequently found polymer, followed by polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE), with no significant differences among all the samples. The results indicate that even though the micro-particles might originate from multiple sources, there is a background presence of microplastics in the environment.
- Published
- 2017
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