Of course, for those of us in the right mind, the answer to that question would be “No.”

But what if we told you that you are in fact eating plastic?

Plastic pollution is a very a real problem, and our increased use of plastics and plasticisers has resulted in there being microplastics in the food we eat.

I recently read an article entitled “Today’s Special: Grilled Salmon Laced With Plastic” on Mother Jones, and the findings of recent research is gut-wrenchingly shocking.

Microplastics actually ‘migrate’ into the flesh of fish instead of just staying in their gut. Most previous studies have only studied the guts of fish with regards to microplastics, and thus there is actually more plastic in our fish than was previously assumed.

This spells trouble for fish and seafood lovers, as a recent study has also discovered that seafood is the “third-largest source of chemical-laden microplastics.”

What does this mean for humans? Well, consumption of plastics could result in health problems such as hormonal disruption and cancer. The development of infants could even be negatively affected.

So, should you still eat fish? It would be difficult to cut fish and seafood out of your diet entirely so perhaps you could minimise your intake to avoid ingesting that much microplastic.

– Xelyn

References

GROSS, L. 2019. Today’s Special; Grilled Salmon Laced With Plastic. Mother Jones. Online.

SMITH, M., LOVE, D. C., ROCHMAN, C. M. & NEFF, R. A. 2018. Microplastics in Seafood and the Implications for Human Health. Current Environment Health Reports, 5, 375-386.