Does Sea Salt Contain Microplastics? Explains This Research

Salt is essential to our diet and the human body. Do you know we can survive without sugar but not without sodium? A human body requires at least a pinch of salt per day, but nowadays, even this is being sold adulterated. Shocked? Why does salt need contamination when it is readily available from the sea? Who is doing this adulteration and why? Let us know more about this.

Research by IIT Bombay

The Indian Institute of Technology has recently done this research. As a result, IIT Bombay confirmed that plastic (in the form of microplastic) is being mixed in salt by big companies. Do you know that 90 per cent of salt marketed worldwide contain microplastics? Moreover, you'll be shocked to read that the highest levels are seen in sea salt. As a result, customers may be ingesting around 2,000 bits of microplastics every year by salt.

What is Microplastic?

Microplastics are minute particles of plastic that are even less than five millimetres. They are formed by the gradual decomposition of the product in the environment. IIT-Bombay Center for Environmental Science and Engineering has found 626 micro-plastic particles in the tested samples. According to the research, 63 per cent of microplastic particles were in the form of small pieces, while 37 per cent were in the form of fibres.

Containment of Indian Sea Salts with Microplastics and a Potential Prevention Strategy

According to this research, 63.76 micrograms of microplastics have been found per one kilogram of salt. It states that if a person consumes five grams of salt per day, an Indian consumes 117 micrograms of salt in a year. The study, titled 'Containment of Indian Sea Salts with Microplastics and a Potential Prevention Strategy', is jointly authored by Amritanshu Srivastava and Chandan Krishna Seth. It was published in the journal 'Environmental Science and Pollution Research' on 25 August. Professor Srivastava has claimed that 85 per cent of micro-plastics (by weight) can be eliminated through standard salt filtration technology.

Do you know that microplastic consumption and its impact on human health can cause harm chemically and physically?