A study carried out by National Sun Yat-sen University in Kaohsiung has found microplastics in most batches of dried fish it studied from seven Asian countries, suggesting a potential health risk.
The study, titled “Occurrence of microplastics in commercial marine dried fish in Asian countries,” was published by the Journal of Hazardous Materials on Feb. 5.
The findings were highlighted in a statement issued by the university on Monday.
The research team led by professor Hung Ching-chang (洪慶章), head of the school’s College of Marine Sciences, studied 14 batches of dried fish to examine if they were contaminated by microplastics.
It found that a type of round herring species caught off Japan’s southeastern coast was the most contaminated of all the samples.
The team attributed the results to East Asian waters around Japan being hotspots for microplastics, with a concentration one order of magnitude higher than the rest of the world’s oceans.
The study found that 75.9 percent of the samples of round herring from Japan, known formally as Etrumeus micropus, contained microplastics.
That far outpaced the next most contaminated dried fish studied, the Pacific sand lance from China, for which 40 percent of the samples contained microplastics.
Other species studied were the delicate round herring from Sri Lanka, with 30 percent microplastics; the shorthead anchovy from South Korea, at 12.5 percent; the silver-stripe round herring from Vietnam, at 7 percent; and round herring species from Taiwan, at 3.2 percent, and Thailand, at 0.2 percent.
The gap in the comparisons narrows when looking at the microplastics by weight.
One batch of Japanese round herring had the highest average microplastics count per gram of dried fish at 0.56, while three of the four batches of fish from Taiwan had counts per gram ranging from 0.10 to 0.20.
Dried fish is a common food in Asia, and the presence of microplastics poses a risk to consumers’ health, Hung said when speaking to the study’s importance.
The results could contribute to developing updated seafood safety regulations, Hung said, adding that more study is needed to evaluate the health effects of microplastics in dried fish.
The study also found that the most abundant type of polymer in the fish samples was polyethylene, which is often used to produce plastic bags, bottles and milk jugs.
The study was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology under a project conducted by the Taiwan and Sri Lanka Marine Sciences and Technology Innovation Center.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday briefed her party’s Central Standing Committee regarding her scheduled visit to the US between Monday next week and June 16, saying that her purpose would be to persuade the US that the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution was a “one China” constitution that would foster stable and peaceful cross-strait relations. The ROC Constitution is the most important defense for all Taiwanese citizens, as it upholds our democracy and has contributed to our robust economy, which aligns with international and US interests, she said. “We would not be troublemakers and drag the US under,”
RSS