Assessment of microplastics in edible salts from solar saltpans and commercial salts

Abstract

Microplastic pollution is getting worse day by day; there is no ecosystem that’s void of their presence. Microplastics accumulating in marine ecosystems can destroy the stability of that particular ecosystem in many ways. As humans are notorious for consuming and exploiting marine resources, microplastics from the ocean reach humans through the food chain, which could cause ineffable side effects. One of the potential ways for microplastics from marine environments to reach humans is through sea salts taken from solar salt pans, and commercial salts are packaged from refined sea salts. Since the dawn of civilization, humans have used salt in their cooking. Table salts are an indispensable ingredient that gets added to enhance the deliciousness of food and is also used as a preservative, so adulteration or contamination in salts should be critically evaluated and rectified. Hence, this study aimed to analyse the presence of microplastics in sea salts from solar saltpans in some regions of Tamil Nadu and some well-known brands of commercial salts and characterise the type of polymer using FT-IR spectroscopy. This is a baseline study to identify the presence of microplastics in sample salts. This study confirmed the presence of microplastic in all the salt samples taken from salt pans and two brands of commercial salt, which numbered <350 polymer fragments, which include different polymer types. First report on the presence of certain polymer types, including acrylic, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), and polycarbonate (PC), among MPs in India. Dominance was shown by polyethylene, as it was present in most of the samples taken from different places. A detailed study on how microplastic contamination affects the health of human beings and how to effectively prevent microplastic contamination in human consumables is warranted.