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A Decade of Microplastics (MPs) Ingestion and Accumulation in Fish across India: A Prisma-Oriented Meta-Analytical Study

Research Journal of Chemistry and Environment 2026

Summary

Researchers conducted a PRISMA-based meta-analysis of 36 studies published between 2015 and 2025, finding that microplastic contamination — dominated by polypropylene and polyethylene — has progressively increased in fish across Indian aquatic ecosystems, raising concern for human dietary exposure through fish consumption.

Polymers

Microplastics (MPs) are grave, emerging, persistent and toxic pollutants of the ecosystem (especially land and water). India is a major fish-consuming country, as Indians eat fish to fulfil their protein-rich diet at a reasonable price. Therefore, there is a very high chance of MPs' consumption in India via the contaminated trophic chain of fish. This PRISMAbased analysis examined various published studies for the years between 2015 and 2025 for the MPs pollution across the Indian aquatic ecosystem. In this study, a total of 412 records were initially calculated by various important databases, of which 36 studies met the inclusion criteria for further study. The results of this study reveal that the high level of MP contamination, including polypropylene and polyethylene, has been progressively increasing over the decades in Indian fishes and raises the issue of a healthy trophic chain. Therefore, this study highlights the urgent need for MP contamination in Indian fish and humans, along with the environment.

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