Microplastics in Salt and Sugar: A study released on Tuesday has scared everyone. The latest report has revealed that microplastics are found in salt and all types of sugar manufactured in India. This also puts a big question mark on the campaign to adopt Swadeshi. Another matter of concern is that according to previous research, the average Indian consumes 10.98 grams of salt and about 10 teaspoons of sugar every day, which is much more than the World Health Organization’s recommended limit.
The study, titled “Microplastics in Salt and Sugar,” conducted by environmental research organisation Toxics Link, tested 10 types of salt and five types of sugar from both online and local markets.
This came out in the study (Microplastics in Salt and Sugar)
During the study, the presence of microplastics was detected in all the salt and sugar samples, which were present in various forms including fibers, pellets, films and pieces. The size of these microplastics ranged from 0.1 millimeters (mm) to five mm. Ravi Agarwal, Founder-Director of ‘Toxics Link’ said- “The aim of our study was to contribute to the existing scientific database on microplastics so that the global plastic treaty can address this issue in a concrete and focused manner.” Satish Sinha, Associate Director of ‘Toxics Link’, said in this regard, “It is worrying to find a significant amount of microplastics in all the salt and sugar samples in our study.
Urgent and extensive research is needed on the long-term health effects of microplastics on human health. According to the research paper, the concentration of microplastics in salt samples ranged from 6.71 to 89.15 pieces per kg of salt. According to the study, iodised salt had the highest concentration of microplastics (89.15 pieces per kg), while organic rock salt had the lowest (6.70 pieces per kg). According to the study, the concentration of microplastics was also found in sugar samples ranging from 11.85 to 68.25 pieces per kg. In which the highest concentration was found in non-organic sugar.
Recent research has found microplastics in human organs such as lungs, heart and even in breast milk and unborn babies. According to previous research, the average Indian consumes 10.98 grams of salt and about 10 teaspoons of sugar per day. Which is much more than the World Health Organization’s recommended limit.