Mussels, prawns and salt. These are the latest ingredients targeted by microplastics in the seas, with percentages exceeding one third of samples. An investigation by Altroconsumo.
That the sea is full of plastic is nothing new: between five and twelve tonnes end up in the ocean every year, and it is estimated that by 2050 the weight of plastics will exceed that of fish. Nor is it news that all this has consequences for food safety. Now, an investigation into mussels, prawns and salt carried out by Altroconsumo together with four other consumer associations in Austria, Belgium, Denmark and Spain reveals that more than two thirds of the samples analysed are contaminated by microplastics.
Specifically, the independent laboratory involved in the study analysed a total of 102 samples: 38 of sea salt, 35 of mussels and 29 of prawns. Of the total products, 30 were of Italian origin. The results of the analyses showed that in 40 per cent of mussels, which feed by filtering water, there is a massive presence of microplastics, while in 31 per cent of cases traces were detected.
For prawns the percentages are 34.5 and 31 per cent respectively (it is therefore better to eat them after removing the intestine), and for salt 39 and 29 per cent, including some samples of the prestigious fleur de sel which, hand-harvested from the water's surface, becomes contaminated by floating microplastics.
The tables included in the investigation also reveal the names of the producers and retail outlets of the samples analysed, but Altroconsumo specifies: "The information is provided for complete transparency, not to recommend or advise against any companies: the problem of microplastics does not depend on how the farms are run, nor on the fishing areas. Molluscs from the same area may or may not be contaminated by microplastics. Only analysis can establish this." Microplastics, present from Antarctica to the Mediterranean, are not in fact distributed evenly across the seas. Moreover, they float and move with the currents.
Plastic in the sea is therefore not represented solely by macro plastic waste such as bags, packaging and bottles, deliberately or accidentally released into the sea by vessels, installations and industries, or carried by rivers and wind, but also by the micro and nanoparticles into which plastic waste disintegrates (capable of persisting for hundreds of years), and by those released into the environment (derived, for example, from cosmetics and detergents, from the washing of synthetic garments, from the abrasion of tyres, or from the use of paints for road markings). Molluscs and crustaceans feed on these substances, and so do we when we consume these products.
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What are the consequences for health? As Altroconsumo explains, even though there is no doubt that plastic has now entered the food chain, experts are cautious for the time being. The European Food Safety Authority (Efsa) has issued an opinion stating that the risk appears unlikely, but further investigation is needed, particularly into the high concentrations of pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which can accumulate in microplastics. There may also be residues of compounds used in packaging, such as bisphenol A (BPA).
Several measures have been taken at global and individual country level to combat water pollution. The European Commission, for example, has proposed new rules for 10 single-use plastic products, ranging from a ban on the marketing of disposable items to consumer awareness campaigns. LifeGate is also committed to this issue: on 8 June last, on the occasion of World Oceans Day, it launched the PlasticLess project, a concrete commitment to ridding our seas of plastic.
