Microplastics found in dried fish in many Asian countries

Microplastics have been found in dried fish products across Asia, including China and Japan, according to a study conducted by Taiwan's Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU).

The research team led by Professor Hung Ching Chang (NSYSU School of Marine Science) studied 14 batches of dried marine fish from seven Asian countries to see how contaminated dried fish are. by microplastics.

Dried fish is a popular dish in many Asian countries

The results showed that in terms of plastic pollution concentration, fish samples from Japan ranked first, followed by China, Sri Lanka.

They found that a round herring caught along the southeastern coast of Japan was the most contaminated of the samples studied.

The NSYSU team attributed this result to the fact that the Northeast Asian seas around Japan are hotbeds of microplastic pollution. This is an area with a much higher concentration of microplastics than the rest of the seas in the world.

According to the study, 75.9% of samples of round herring species from Japan (officially known as Etrumeus micropus) contained microplastic particles. A batch of Japanese round herring had an average number of microplastics per gram of dried fish of 0.56, the highest among the studied samples.

Professor Hung's research team presented the research results

That number far exceeds the dried Pacific sand fish sample taken in China, with 40% of the sample containing microplastics.

Other species reported to have microplastics were thin-bodied round herring from Sri Lanka (30%), short-nosed anchovies from Korea (12.5%) and general round herring from Taiwan (3.2%) and Thailand (0.2%).

The study also found that the most abundant polymer found in dried fish samples was polyethylene, which is commonly used to make plastic bags, bottles and baby bottles.

"This research is very important because dried sea fish is a popular dish in Asian countries," Professor Hung was quoted as saying by Taiwan News.

In the immediate future, according to Mr. Hung, more studies are needed to assess the actual impact on human health if eating dried fish contaminated with microplastics. Such studies can contribute to the development and updating of new regulations on aquatic safety.

Microplastics is a term coined by ocean and marine ecologist Richard Thompson in 2004, where he describes them as particles that are 'less than 5mm in diameter'.

Since then, scientists have found microplastics everywhere from the world's great oceans, in the Arctic and Antarctic ice, in shellfish, in table salt, in drinking water.

In March 2022, scientists at Vrije Universiteit (Amsterdam, Netherlands) announced a shocking discovery when microplastic particles were found in human blood. Half of the blood samples in the study contained PET plastic, which is commonly used in beverage bottles.

In addition, a third of the samples contained polystyrene, a type of plastic used to package food and other consumer products, and a quarter of the samples contained polyethylene, the type of plastic found in plastic bags.