Most commonly used mussel species are full of microplastics

In the study, scientists used four types of mussels: European blue mussel, green mussel, and wavy mussel.

Venus and Pacific Venus.All selected mussels were purchased from grocery stores. Some of them were farmed and some were caught from the North Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Atlantic Ocean, South Pacific Ocean, South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand.

The researchers found a total of ninedifferent types of plastic in mussels. Polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) were the most common. Both plastics are used in the daily lives of people around the world. To compare analyzes of mussels of different sizes, one gram of mussel meat was used as a fixed reference.

According to research, in one gram of mussel meatcontains from 0.13 to 2.45 microplastic particles. The most contaminated samples of mussels from the North Atlantic and the South Pacific. Since mussels filter microplastic particles from the water in addition to food particles, microplastic examination of mussels allows indirect conclusions about contamination in their respective areas of origin.

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