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Microplastics in seafood
Summary
Tiny plastic particles, including some so small they're called "nanoplastics", are showing up in seafood, but scientists are still working out the best ways to accurately measure them. This review of existing research highlights a key problem: because testing methods vary so much between studies (and samples can get contaminated by stray plastic fibers in the air), it's hard to know exactly how much plastic is really in the fish and shellfish we eat. Until testing methods are standardized, it's difficult to say for certain how much of a health risk this poses, more consistent research is needed before we can draw firm conclusions.
MICROPLASTICSare also variable and reflect the range of plastics that have been produced over time.Table 1 gives a list of some of the types of plastics that are commonly encountered in the marine environment.Nanoplastics form a subset of the microplastics.The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) defines particles as nanoparticles when 50% or more of the particles have one or more external dimensions in the 1-100nm size range.The majority of studies on microplastics have so far focused on the marine environment and seafood; scientific techniques for assessing microplastics in these substrates are available.Comparing the findings of different studies can be difficult, however, because sampling, extraction, purification and analytical methods for enumerating and characterising microplastics are not yet fully standardised.Compounded with this, contamination from airborne fibres during sample handling is a serious problem [1] and not all studies incorporate adequate measures to protect samples from airborne microfibre contamination.Standardisation