Consuming microplastics? Investigation of commercial salts as a source of microplastics (MPs) in diet.

ABSTRACT: The omnipresence of microplastics (MPs) in marine and terrestrial environments as a pollutant of concern is well established and widely discussed in the literature. However, studies on MP contamination in commercial food sources like salts from the terrestrial environment are scarce. Thus, this is the first study to investigate various varieties of Australian commercial salts (both terrestrial and marine salts) as a source of MPs in the human diet, and the first to detect MPs in black salt. Using Nile red dye, the MPs were detected and counted under light microscopy, further characterised using attenuated total reflectance Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). Of all the 90 suspected particl

SUBMITTER: Kuttykattil A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9813175 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature