A short review on the recent method development for extraction and identification of microplastics in mussels and fish, two major groups of seafood

Walter Dellisanti, Matthew Ming Lok Leung, Karen Wing Kei Lam, Youji Wang, Menghong Hu, Hoi Shing Lo, James Kar Hei Fang

Research output: Journal article publicationReview articleAcademic researchpeer-review

35 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The prevalence of microplastics in the marine environment poses potential health risks to humans through seafood consumption. Relevant data are available but the diverse analytical approaches adopted to characterise microplastics have hampered data comparison among studies. Here, the techniques for extraction and identification of microplastics are summarised among studies of marine mussels and fish, two major groups of seafood. Among the reviewed papers published in 2018–2021, the most common practice to extract microplastics was through tissue digestion in alkaline chemicals (46 % for mussels, 56 % for fish) and oxidative chemicals (28 % for mussels, 12 % for fish). High-density solutions such as sodium chloride could be used to isolate microplastics from other undigested residues by flotation. Polymer analysis of microplastics was mainly carried out with Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy (58 % for both mussels and fish) and Raman spectroscopy (14 % for mussels, 8 % for fish). Among these methods, we recommend alkaline digestion for microplastic extraction, and the automated mapping approach of FTIR or Raman spectroscopy for microplastic identification. Overall, this study highlights the need for a standard protocol for characterising microplastics in seafood samples.

Original languageEnglish
Article number114221
JournalMarine Pollution Bulletin
Volume186
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2023

Keywords

  • Environmental pollution
  • FTIR
  • Microplastics
  • Raman
  • Seafood contamination

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Oceanography
  • Aquatic Science
  • Pollution

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