The innocent table salt you add to your meals is teaming with microplastics, according to a study that comes a week after bottled water was found to be loaded with the toxins.
Researchers at Indonesia‘s Andalas University sampled 21 table salt brands, finding each contained tiny fragments of plastic, fibers, films and pellets.
The molecules have been linked to the development of cancer, heart disease and dementia, as well as fertility problems.
The innocent table salt you add to your meals is teaming with microplastics, according to a study
The team detected up to 33 particles per kilogram, meaning people consume more than 1,000 microplastics annually.
The recommended intake of table salt for Americans is about seven grams a day.
Microplastics are pieces of plastic smaller than five millimeters in length. Most come from single-use plastics such as bottles and food packaging, which degrade slowly.
Studies show that microplastics are everywhere – even in the snow at the top of Mount Everest – but scientists are most concerned with microplastics in food, water and the air around us.
‘Salt can be contaminated by water taken from the sea to make the salt, which may contain microplastics, organic matter, and sand particles, as well as during its manufacture,’ reads the new study published in the Global Journal of Environmental Science and Management.
The study was conducted with popular table salt brands purchased in Indonesia.
However, the country exports most of its sea salt to the US, Singapore and the Czech Republic, according to global export data company Volza.
The team set out to see if table salt used by most people worldwide was tainted with the tiny plastics and purchased 21 brands from markets and supermarkets.
Researchers at Indonesia ‘s Andalas University sampled 21 table salt brands, finding each contained tiny fragments of plastic, fibers, films and pellets
Researchers have not shared the brand names ‘to maintain privacy,’ they shared in the study.
Microplastic extraction was done by weighing 50 grams of salt from each package and then combining it with water to remove organic impurities.
The remaining samples, housed in a flask, were placed on a hot plate and stirred with 300 revolutions per minute at 149 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes.
The sample was cooled at room temperature and stirred with 300 revolutions per minute until the salt completely dissolved.
The team then looked at what was left in the flasks through a microscope, identifying four types of microplastics based on shape, size and color.
‘This study successfully identified four different forms of microplastics contained in all 21 salt samples, of which fragments are the most common (67.49 percent), followed by fibers (23.82 percent), films (6.08 percent), and pellets (2.61 percent) as secondary components,’ the study reads.
The study also identified four types of polymers: polyethylene (34.62 percent), polypropylene (30.77 percent), polyethylene terephthalate (15.38 percent), and polyester (3.85 percent)
‘The morphologies of microplastics show variations across different brands of salt.’
The team found the tiny particles appeared as black, blue, yellow, red and transparent – black was the most dominant color.
The study also identified four types of polymers: polyethylene (34.62 percent), polypropylene (30.77 percent), polyethylene terephthalate (15.38 percent), and polyester (3.85 percent).
Polyethylene (PE) is a synthetic resin, and polypropylene (PP) is a robust, heat-resistant plastic.
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is used in clothing fibers and containers for liquids and foods, and polyester is a man-made fiber material.
The US also imports salt from Spain, which was also found to have microplastics.
A study conducted by the University of Alicante in 2017 found there are up to 280 molecules per kilogram of salt from the European country.
