Controlling microplastics in food
Did you know that, on average, each person ingests about 5 g of plastic per week, it is equivalent to a credit card (according to research from New Castle University, Australia in 2018)? This amount of plastic often exists in the form of microplastics found in food and drinking water.
What is microplastic?
Global average weekly plastic consumption (source WWF/New Castle University, Australia)
They are plastic particles that are < 5 mm in size, arising from human activities (clothing, washing powder, cosmetics, ...) or the decomposition of plastic objects such as plastic bags, plastic bottles, fishing nets, etc…
The accumulation of too many microplastics in the animal body negatively affects the immune system, the metabolism in cells, oxidative stress, affects the nervous system, the reproductive system,...
Microplastics have also been found in seafood dishes. Microplastics less than 1 mm in size are found in mussels, oysters and shellfish. More than a quarter of fish in markets in Indonesia and California contain microplastics.
Microplastics are also found underground in limestone aquifers in Illinois, the USA with a frequency of 15 particles per liter of water. This type of groundwater supplies about a quarter of the world's drinking water.
in 2018, 39 samples of table salt from 21 countries around the world were tested by the NGO Greenpeace, only 3 were safe, and the rest were contaminated with microplastics. More than 90% of the world's table salt contains microplastics, among these, the salts sold in Asia have the highest concentration of microplastics, and sea salt is the salt that contains the most microplastics, followed by lake salt and sea salt. stone. Greenpeace estimates that if an adult consumes about 10g of salt per day, they will put into their body 2,000 microplastic particles per year.
Since 2015, the US Congress has banned the appearance of microplastics in drinking water. In 2022, the European Commission (EC) issued a draft regulation on the control of microplastics in seawater, drinking water and soil. Therefore, the development of a method to analyze microplastics is very urgent.
Controlling microplastics in food
Currently, Eurofins Sac Ky Hai Dang has set up a method to determine microplastics in the drinking water and spices samples. Microplastic particles in the test sample were extracted with a high-density solution, the extract was then cleaned up to remove impurities, filtered through a 0.45 µm filter, and analyzed by microscopy to determine the number of microplastics in the sample (particle/g, particle/L).
Our method offers high accuracy and stability performance, and a short turnaround time. We are ready to serve manufacturers as well as consumers.
Microplastics in salt
Why choose Eurofins Sac Ky Hai Dang
- Fast, accurate analysis results, with results in 24 hours
- High specificity and accuracy
- Can be analyzed on many types of samples
- 24/7 sample pickup service
- Free consultation standards allowed by each export market
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Eurofins Sac Ky Hai Dang
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