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Influence of various production methods on the microplastic contamination of sea salt produced in Java, Indonesia
Summary
Researchers compared microplastic contamination in sea salt produced by different methods — solar evaporation, boiling, and mechanical processing — in Java, Indonesia, finding that production method significantly affected MP levels, with open solar evaporation exposed to air contamination yielding the highest counts.
The extensive research on microplastics (MPs) in the last years has shown that it is not just an environmental problem anymore. As it can also be found in human food, it poses a potential risk for human health and food safety. Especially sea salt, which is produced by the evaporation of seawater, including its microplastic contamination, has been reported with different levels of MP contamination. Therefore, in this preliminary study, we investigated if different solar evaporation methods (traditional, geomembrane, and tunnel) influence the concentration of microplastic particles in sea salt production in Indonesia, one of the countries with the highest estimated level of plastic waste input into the ocean. The results show a significantly higher MP contamination in sea salt produced traditionally compared to the geomembrane and tunnel methods.