Document of bibliographic reference 240965

BibliographicReference record

Type

Bibliographic resource

Type of document

Journal article

BibLvlCode

AS

Title

Microplastics in bivalves cultured for human consumption

Abstract

Microplastics are present throughout the marine environment and ingestion of these plastic particles (<1 mm) has been demonstrated in a laboratory setting for a wide array of marine organisms. Here, we investigate the presence of microplastics in two species of commercially grown bivalves: Mytilus edulis and Crassostrea gigas. Microplastics were recovered from the soft tissues of both species. At time of human consumption, M. edulis contains on average 0.36 ± 0.07 particles g^-1 (wet weight), while a plastic load of 0.47 ± 0.16 particles g^-1 ww was detected in C. gigas. As a result, the annual dietary exposure for European shellfish consumers can amount to 11,000 microplastics per year. The presence of marine microplastics in seafood could pose a threat to food safety, however, due to the complexity of estimating microplastic toxicity, estimations of the potential risks for human health posed by microplastics in food stuffs is not (yet) possible.

WebOfScience code

https://www.webofscience.com/wos/woscc/full-record/WOS:000341471300009

Bibliographic citation

Van Cauwenberghe, L.; Janssen, C. (2014). Microplastics in bivalves cultured for human consumption. Environ. Pollut. 193: 65-70. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2014.06.010

Topic

Marine

Is peer reviewed

true