1/13/2023 0 Comments Elucidate in spanishIn the production of sea or lake salt, saltwater is pumped into evaporation ponds, where it is concentrated by the action of sun and wind. Sea salt and rock salt are the most sold and consumed in Spain. Sea salt and lake salt are obtained by evaporation, rock salt comes from the mining of a mineral rock called halite, and river or well salt is obtained from wells in non-coastal zones. There are several types of table salt according to their origin: sea salt, lake salt, rock salt and river or well salt. Recent studies 13 show the presence of plastic microfiber in deep-sea organisms, showing that the deep sea is already worryingly exposed to human waste. Marine pollution can affect these products, and microplastics can reach our organism through them. Many products of human consumption, such as salt, fish… come from the sea. Furthermore, during this time, plastics are fragmented into small pieces, becoming plastic micro-particles (with a diameter of less than 5 mm) 12. Once in the environment, and especially in the marine environment, the decomposition of plastic items occurs in an exceedingly long time, usually estimated between hundreds and thousands of years 11. Plastics are harmful to the marine environment, mainly because of their resistance to degradation. Recent studies estimate that between 4.8 and 12.7 million tons of plastic waste ends up in the world’s oceans every year 2, making them the largest plastic dumps. Plastics are relatively recent, they have existed only for around one century 10, but since the development of the plastics industry, plastic items have spread around the world. ![]() They represent between 60 and 80% of the total marine debris 9. The materials which are most commonly found in marine debris comprise glass, metal, paper and plastic 4 being plastic debris the most abundant in the marine environment 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. They produce a wide range of negative effects, not only environmental, but also economical, safety, health and cultural impact. Marine debris (MDs) are widely recognized as a global environmental problem 1, 2, 3. ![]() The results indicate that even though the micro-particles might originate from multiple sources, there is a background presence of microplastics in the environment. The microplastic content found was of 50–280 MPs/kg salt, being polyethylene-terephthalate (PET) the most frequently found polymer, followed by polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE), with no significant differences among all the samples. The samples comprise sea salts and well salts, before and after packing. Likewise, 21 different samples of commercial table salt from Spain have been analyzed for MPs content and nature. ![]() ![]() Several errors in the experimental procedures used were found and are reported in the present work. Previous studies show very confusing results, reporting amounts of microparticles (MPs) in salt ranging from zero to 680 MPs/kg, with no mention of the possible causes of such differences. One of its main components, microplastics, has been found in several sea salt samples from different countries, indicating that sea products are irremediably contaminated by microplastics. Marine debris is widely recognized as a global environmental problem.
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