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Table salt in India contains microplastics: IIT-B study

The institute’s Centre for Environmental Science and Engineering (CESE) found 626 microplastic particles—63 per cent plastic fragments and 37 per cent plastic fibres— in samples of popular salt brands in India

Table salt in India contains microplastics: IIT-B study
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If the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B) first-of-its-kind study is to be believed, then most of the table salt in India sold likely contain microplastics that are found in polluted sea water.

A two-member team from the institute’s Centre for Environmental Science and Engineering (CESE) found 626 microplastic particles — 63 per cent plastic fragments and 37 per cent plastic fibres — in samples of popular salt brands in India.

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Madhavan Nair Rajeevan, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences said that the National Centre for Coastal Research and National Institute of Ocean Technology are spearheading a project to assess and manage sea pollution in India.

For the IIT-B study, three packages, each of eight commercial brands of sea salt, were bought from supermarkets and local markets across Mumbai between June and September 2017.

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In the last four years, microplastics and microfibres in sea-derived salt have been found in China, Spain, Turkey, UK, France, US, as well as in 17 brands of salt from Australia, France, Iran, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Portugal and South Africa that were bought from a Malaysian market.

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