Anthropogenic debris in seafood: Plastic debris and fibers from textiles in fish and bivalves sold for human consumption

Abstract

The ubiquity of anthropogenic debris in hundreds of species of wildlife and the toxicity of chemicals associated with it has begun to raise concerns regarding the presence of anthropogenic debris in seafood. We assessed the presence of anthropogenic debris in fishes and shellfish on sale for human consumption. We sampled from markets in Makassar, Indonesia, and from California, USA. All fish and shellfish were identified to species where possible. Anthropogenic debris was extracted from the digestive tracts of fish and whole shellfish using a 10% KOH solution and quantified under a dissecting microscope. In Indonesia, anthropogenic debris was found in 28% of individual fish and in 55% of all species. Similarly, in the USA, anthropogenic debris was found in 25% of individual fish and in 67% of all species. Anthropogenic debris was also found in 33% of individual shellfish sampled. All of the anthropogenic debris recovered from fish in Indonesia was plastic, whereas anthropogenic debris recovered from fish in the USA was primarily fibers. Variations in debris types likely reflect different sources and waste management strategies between countries. We report some of the first findings of plastic debris in fishes directly sold for human consumption raising concerns regarding human health.

Impacts of temperature and selected chemical digestion methods on microplastic particles

“…Alkaline and wet peroxide oxidation-based digestions have both been shown to be effective in the removal of biological tissues to isolate microplastic particles [10,26,27,35] (S. Mason, SUNY-Fredonia, Fredonia, NY, USA, personal communication). The wet peroxide oxidation methods developed by NOAA [32] are also very effective at removing a variety of plant-based and other organic matter in water, wastewater, and sediment samples [5,23,33,38].…”

“…Modified versions of this method have been used in a number of studies [5,33,34]. The wet peroxide oxidation method has been used in combination with alkaline (potassium hydroxide [KOH] 224 g/L) digestion for fish tissues (S. Mason Alkaline conditions have also been demonstrated to digest biogenic material [10,22,23,25,26,35]. Foekema et al [10] used 10% KOH to digest fish digestive tracts over a 2-to 3-wk period, but did not evaluate treatment effects on plastic particles.…”

Micro-and macro-plastics in marine species from Nordic waters

“…However, small pelagic fish, such as sardines and anchovies are consumed whole, without the removal of the digestive system. Microplastics have been observed in few species of small marine pelagic species, for example the Pacific anchovy (Engraulis japonicas) (Rochman et al, 2015).…”

Microplastics in urban water management

“…In this manner microplastics could enter the food chain and spread in the food web [22,23,24]. Absorbed microplastics can have different effects.…”