Journal
SN APPLIED SCIENCES
Volume 2, Issue 12, Pages -Publisher
SPRINGER INT PUBL AG
DOI: 10.1007/s42452-020-03749-0
Keywords
Microplastics; Food; Salt; Human consumption; Systematic review; Meta-analysis
Categories
Funding
- University of Hull
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Microplastics (MPs) are an emerging contaminant ubiquitous in the environment. There is growing concern regarding potential human health effects, a major human exposure route being dietary uptake. We have undertaken a systematic review (SR) and meta-analysis to identify all relevant research on MP contamination of salt intended for human consumption. Three thousand nine hundred and nineteen papers were identified, with ten fitting the inclusion criteria. A search of the databases MEDLINE, EMBASE and Web of Science, from launch date to September 2020, was conducted. MP contamination of salt varied significantly between four origins, sea salt 0-1674 MPs/kg, lake salt 8-462 MPs/kg, rock and well salt 0-204 MPs/kg. The majority of samples were found to be contaminated by MPs. Corresponding potential human exposures are estimated to be 0-6110 MPs per year (for all origins), confirming salt as a carrier of MPs. A bespoke risk of bias (RoB) assessment tool was used to appraise the quality of the studies, with studies demonstrating moderate to low RoB. These results suggest that a series of recurring issues need to be addressed in future research regarding sampling, analysis and reporting to improve confidence in research findings.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available