He seafood It is a classic on many Spaniards’ Christmas tables and it inevitably also implies there are microplastics. In fact, these contaminant fragments are found in almost any food, but are especially common microplastics in seafoodsince they are usually filter-feeding animals that feed on what they filter from the water they inhale. As a result, plastic particles become concentrated in their bodies and end up in ours when we eat them.
A team of scientists from Center for Food and Toxicological Environmental Technologies of the University of Rovira and Virgili (TecnATox) wanted to check which seafood in Spain contained the most microplastics, so samples of the most common types were analyzed.
Thus, they saw that it was the mussels that received the unlauded honor of taking first place. In particular, it has been observed that those who regularly consume this food can ingest up to six meters of synthetic fibers per year. We can reduce our consumption of this seafood, but the reality is that if we don’t have it, we will get it another way. Therefore it is most recommended change behavior who dump these materials into the sea. In this way, we will protect seafood and any other food from microplastics.
How do microplastics get into seafood?
Microplastics are very small pieces of plastic ranging from 0.1 to 100 microns in diameter, or in other words, 0.0001 to 0.1 millimeters. Sometimes they can be used directly with this size. This happens, for example, with microbeads in some cosmetics. However, in other cases they are formed degradation of large plastic parts. This happens, for example, with synthetic fibers, which are released in the washing machine or with plastic packaging, which degrades once discarded and, again, can harm species in both marine and terrestrial ecosystems. Marine life is often talked about a lot, but cases of possible damage to insects, such as ants, or birds, such as swifts, have been reported.
In the case of marine ecosystems, all species may be affected by consequences of microplasticsbut this pollution is especially harmful to filter-feeding species such as mussels for the reasons stated above.
If they are eaten by other animals, microplastics also enter their bodies. including us humans. Additionally, we can ingest microplastics through fish, salt, or almost any food packaged in plastic.
Microplastics have been found in many different places in our bodies: from the blood to the lungs, in the brain, breast milk and even in the first stool of newborns. We can’t avoid microplastics. As soon as we release them into the environment, they come back to us like a boomerang. Therefore, if we want to avoid finding microplastics in seafood or any other food, we must take action in this regard.
Some tips we can follow individually
The ideal way to prevent microplastic pollution is through action by large companies and institutions. broader measures. However, we as consumers can also do something.
First of all, we can, as far as possible, select products that not packed in plastic. Unfortunately, this is not always possible. Therefore, if we have no other choice but to use plastic, we should try dispose of it.
We can also prevent clothes from being thrown away by choosing to reuse them. They may recommend that we choose organic products because they will presumably contain fewer microplastics. However, these materials were found in such remote places as Antarctic snow. No matter how ecological the culture, it cannot prevent the presence of microplastics in the soil or irrigation water.
In short, microplastics in seafood aren’t the only thing we should be concerned about. It is still unknown what the effect of its accumulation is. Just because they are found in our bodies does not mean they are already affecting us. But it is known that they can, for example, cause breathing problems and disrupt the endocrine system, causing cancer and infertility. While it is not known at what level they affect us, ideally we should do our part to reduce their emissions so that as little as possible reaches both ecosystems and back to us. Now are you hungry? mussels for christmas? It may not be any more serious than eating other foods. We should not become obsessed, but we should be consistent in what science is teaching us little by little.
Source: Hiper Textual
