Occurrence of Microplastics in Fish and Shrimp Feeds

• Published in: Bulletin of environmental contamination and toxicology Vol. 107; no. 4; pp. 684 - 692
• Main Authors: Yao, Chunxia, Liu, Xing, Wang, Hongmei, Sun, Xiaolin, Qian, Qunli, Zhou, Jiaxin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.10.2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Alkenes; Aquatic Pollution; Contamination; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; feed safety; fish; Fish meal; Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy; Fourier transforms; Infrared spectroscopy; Microplastics; Paraffin; Paraffins; Plastic pollution; Pollution; polyesters; Polyethylene; Polyethylenes; Seafood; shrimp; Soil Science & Conservation; toxicology; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Shrimp meal; Microplastics; Statistical analysis; Fish meal
• ISSN: 0007-4861; 1432-0800; 1432-0800
• DOI: 10.1007/s00128-021-03328-y

Plastics with particle sizes of 100 nm to 5 mm are known as microplastics. The contamination of seafood-based feeds by larger microplastics (20 μm to 5 mm) is a growing concern. Here, we analyzed fish and shrimp meals. Microplastics were extracted using density separation methods and characterized using scanning micro Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (μ-FT-IR). The average microplastic abundance in shrimp meal was 10.7 microplastics·100 g −1 . In fish meal, 1.02% of the microplastics were smaller than 1 mm, while most of the microplastics in shrimp meal were 1–5 mm. Eight colors of microplastics were observed; black, red, and orange microplastics have been rarely reported in previous studies. The microplastics found included films, fibers, and fragments, with film-type microplastics being the most common. The main chemical components of fiber-type microplastics were olefins and polyester, while film- and fragment-type microplastics were mainly paraffin and polyethylene. Additional in-depth studies of microplastics in feeds are necessary to provide data support for feed safety assessments.