From Seas to Our Food - How Did It Happen?
Imagine one day you went to a seafood restaurant to have dinner with your family. You look at the menu and order a chilli crab. Your mom calls for a portion of grilled snapper fish, while everyone else orders their own meal. Not long after, the waiter delivered the food to the table and everyone ate happily. That’s the usual vibe when we have dinner with the family. But did you know that there is a potential presence of plastic in your dinner?
Imagine one day you went to a seafood restaurant to have dinner with your family. You look at the menu and order a chilli crab. Your mom calls for a portion of grilled snapper fish, while everyone else orders their own meal. Not long after, the waiter delivered the food to the table and everyone ate happily. That’s the usual vibe when we have dinner with the family. But did you know that there is a potential presence of plastic in your dinner?
Plastic has already made its way into the food chain. Microplastics are carried in the bodies of animals, swallowed by them when they eat their prey. Microplastics undergo a process known as 'trophic transfer', which can go up the food chain when one animal feeds another. The main concern is, how did it happen?
Plastic can not be separated from our lives. The use of plastic continues to increase along with the needs of the community. But apparently, it overwhelms the world’s ability to deal with them. Studies reveal 24-34 million metric tons of plastic pollution entering the marine environment every year. That's about 11% of the total plastic waste in the world, and it does not entirely degrade; rather, it photo-degrades into microplastics that absorb poisons and cause pollution. It may break down, but only into smaller pieces. The smaller those pieces get, the more places it can go, the more likely it will make its way into a living thing's body.
A wide range of organisms can consume microplastic, from plankton that forms the foundation of the marine food chain to humans. Their size ranges from around five millimetres to smaller–called nanoplastic. Microplastics are eaten by marine animals that mistook them for food. The cycle starts from small fish that accidentally consume plastic, consumed by larger fish and then becomes food for humans. The plastic ingested by the primary consumers–small fishes–remains until the top predator–us, humans. This process is known as the 'trophic transfer' of microplastics.
Microplastics may spread across the food chain as a result of trophic transmission. As a result, microplastics have been found in many species, including fish, shrimp, and shellfish, to be served for our dinner plates. In many cases, these tiny pieces pass through the digestive system and are found to clog the digestive tract or stab an organ that will potentially cause death.
Abandoning plastic straws is a good start, but there is still a lot more plastic. According to World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF), there are seven steps that we can do to reduce plastic pollution in nature:
- Plan ahead. Keep a water bottle or reusable coffee mug with you, have your utensils for on-the-go meals, and carry a reusable shopping bag.
- Donate unwanted plastic items such as furniture and dish ware to local charities, or offer them online to your local free cycle program, instead of trashing them.
- Use and reuse plastic as long as possible, then get creative and design it for something else.
- Recycle smart. Only 9% of all plastic waste ever produced has been recycled. We can do better! Find out which plastics your town’s recycling system accepts, and make sure you recycle them.
- Clean up your neighbourhood. Every piece of plastic you pick up is one less piece in nature.
- Look at labels and packaging. Try to choose items packed in materials that are accepted at your local recycling centre.
- Advocate for change. Support companies that are working to solve the plastics crisis.
The world is in a waste crisis. The little steps we take can have a big impact on the environment. If we don't play a part, who do we expect to instead?
Source:
Arp, Hans Peter. “When plastic is part of the food chain”. NGI News
Cirino, Erika. “Something Fishy: Toxic Plastic Pollution Is Traveling Up the Food Chain”. The Revelator. May 14, 2018
Clark, Marisa. “What Is The True Impact Of Plastic In The Food Chain?”. Ocean Blue Project
Hancock, Lorin. “Plastic In The Ocean.” World Wildlife Magazine. October 3, 2019.
R.H. Waring, R.M. Harris, S.C. Mitchell. 2018. Plastic contamination of the food chain: A threat to human health?. Maturitas vol (115) 64-68 ISSN 0378-5122
Thompson, Andrea. “From Fish to Humans, A Microplastic Invasion May Be Taking a Toll”. Scientific American. September 4, 2018
“Plastic In Food Chain”. Plastic Soup Foundation. August 28, 2018
“Trophic Transfer of Microplastics In Seals Confirmed”. Plastic Soup Foundation. September 6, 2018
