Incidence and exposure to microplastics in table salt present in the Iran market

Plastics and microplastics (MPs) are toxic, pervasive and threatening the biotic and abiotic components of the earth, and they threaten food safety and food security by moving in the food chain. In this study, the amounts and characteristics of 40 table salt samples with different brands, including sea salt (No = 13), rock (No = 13), bulk (No = 8) and non-standard (No = 6), were investigated with a combination of sieving, filtration, observation and FTIR, Micro-Raman and SEM techniques. The results showed that all the salts were contaminated with MPs. In general, the abundance range of detected particles was 700–5470 MPs/kg. The abundance of MPs was higher in counterfeit and non-standard salts (1825 ± 1808 MPs/kg). Investigating the relationship between the effect of the purification process (Kruskal-Wallis Test, P = 0.841), the type of packaging (Kruskal-Wallis Test, P = 0.609), and the type of salt (Kruskal-Wallis Test, P = 0.942), on the abundance of MPs using a comparison test Kruskal-Wallis was not significant. However, the numerical difference was recognizable. The most identified polymer in the salts was cellulose acetate, which probably causes by unmanaged plastic litter in the environment (especially cigarette butts). The dominant form of particles was fragment-shaped, which is the most abundant form of identified MPs in the environment. Both environmental pollution and secondary pollution (during production and packaging), respectively, contribute to the contamination of salts with MPs. The estimated human dietary intake (EDI) and the amount of estimated annual intake (EAI) for different ages in Iran were obtained EDI = 5–59 MPs/capita/day and EAI = 1967–21563 MPs/capita/year. The surface morphology of the particles showed that the MPs were affected by continuous weathering, mechanical fracture and oxidation. MPs are a threat to human health due to the absorption and transmission of dangerous pollutants and their inherent toxicity. Therefore, a solution must be thought of to prevent the contamination of the food chain through salts by MPs, (with protective measures at the salt source, and by improving its production processes.