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The title of the original article published in Environmental Science and Technology, along with a bit of the abstract: Global Pattern of Microplastics (MPs) in

The title of the original article published in Environmental Science and Technology, along with a bit of the abstract: Global Pattern of Microplastics (MPs) in Commercial Food-Grade Salts: Sea Salt as an Indicator of Seawater MP Pollution A total of 39 different salt brands produced at geospatially different sites, including 28 sea salt brands from 16 countries/regions on six continents, were investigated. A wide range of MP content (in number of MPs per kg of salt; n/kg) was found: 0–1674 n/kg (excluding one outlier of 13 629 n/kg) in sea salts, 0–148 n/kg in rock salt, and 28–462 n/kg in lake salt. ------------------------- I would tend to think that if you want to avoid these microplastics, eat rock salt, not sea salt. Much lower concentration of microplastics, which I am suprised are even present at all, really. I don't imagine the rock salt producers are allowing a whole bunch of plastic manufacturing equipment to abrade directly into the product. Not really sure what the n/kg unit represents, though (is it nanograms per kilogram?).

jfk13 8y ago
> Not really sure what the n/kg unit represents, though Sounds like it's simply a count of the individual particles: "number of MPs per kg of salt".
Amorymeltzer 8y ago
>in number of MPs per kg of salt; n/kg MPs is microplastics, so in this case n is the number. So 13,629 individual microplastics per kilogram of salt, etc.
BeniBoy 8y ago
It is available on sci-hub if anyone wants to have a closer look: https://sci-hub.tw/10.1021/acs.est.8b04180 https://sci-hub.tw/10.1021/acs.est.8b04180 From my understanding n is the number of microplastic fragments.
semi-extrinsic 8y ago
n/kg looks to be "number of microplastic particles per kg". As you suggest, the rock salt microplastics are not caused by ocean microplastic pollution. So those numbers represent the "background noise", and if you will, microplastics found in sea salt are 20-30 dB above the "noise floor."
- semi-extrinsic 8y ago
  Did some more digging, and another study [1] on microplastics in shellfish gives this highly informative comparison: """Exposure during meals via dust fallout in a household is estimated at 13,731–68,415 particles per year""" So to match microplastic intake from dust falling on your food while eating, you'd have to consume at least 10 kg of salt per year in the case where your salt is fairly contaminated and your house is fairly clean (otherwise it would be even higher). FDA says salt intake should be below 1.5 kg (preferrably below 0.8 kg) per year. [1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749117344445 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S026974911...
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jobigoud 8y ago
Can the samples be contaminated by the container if it's in plastic itself?

jfk13 8y ago

> Not really sure what the n/kg unit represents, though Sounds like it's simply a count of the individual particles: "number of MPs per kg of salt".

Amorymeltzer 8y ago

>in number of MPs per kg of salt; n/kg MPs is microplastics, so in this case n is the number. So 13,629 individual microplastics per kilogram of salt, etc.

BeniBoy 8y ago

It is available on sci-hub if anyone wants to have a closer look: https://sci-hub.tw/10.1021/acs.est.8b04180 https://sci-hub.tw/10.1021/acs.est.8b04180 From my understanding n is the number of microplastic fragments.

semi-extrinsic 8y ago

n/kg looks to be "number of microplastic particles per kg". As you suggest, the rock salt microplastics are not caused by ocean microplastic pollution. So those numbers represent the "background noise", and if you will, microplastics found in sea salt are 20-30 dB above the "noise floor."

semi-extrinsic 8y ago
Did some more digging, and another study [1] on microplastics in shellfish gives this highly informative comparison: """Exposure during meals via dust fallout in a household is estimated at 13,731–68,415 particles per year""" So to match microplastic intake from dust falling on your food while eating, you'd have to consume at least 10 kg of salt per year in the case where your salt is fairly contaminated and your house is fairly clean (otherwise it would be even higher). FDA says salt intake should be below 1.5 kg (preferrably below 0.8 kg) per year. [1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749117344445 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S026974911...

deleted 8y ago

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jobigoud 8y ago

Can the samples be contaminated by the container if it's in plastic itself?