How much plastic is in sea cucumbers we eat?
Microplastics in canned, salt-dried, and instant sea cucumbers sold for human consumption.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Canned sea cucumbers had the highest microplastic content—up to 0.51 particles per day from just 3 grams of consumption.
People often assume canned or packaged foods are cleaner or safer, but this suggests processing methods may increase contamination.
Practical Takeaways
Consider choosing less processed forms of sea cucumbers, like salt-dried, which had lower microplastic levels (0.078 particles per day vs. 0.51 in canned).
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Canned sea cucumbers had the highest microplastic content—up to 0.51 particles per day from just 3 grams of consumption.
People often assume canned or packaged foods are cleaner or safer, but this suggests processing methods may increase contamination.
Practical Takeaways
Consider choosing less processed forms of sea cucumbers, like salt-dried, which had lower microplastic levels (0.078 particles per day vs. 0.51 in canned).
Publication
Journal
Marine pollution bulletin
Year
2023
Authors
M. Mohsen, Chenggang Lin, Mohnad Abdalla, Shilin Liu, Hongsheng Yang
Related Content
Claims (3)
If you eat processed sea cucumbers—like canned, instant, or salt-dried ones—you might also be eating tiny bits of plastic. On average, each sea cucumber has about 1.4 tiny plastic particles, and eating just 3 grams a day could mean swallowing up to half a plastic particle daily, depending on how it's prepared.
The tiny plastic bits in processed sea cucumbers are mostly made of a type called polypropylene, and it might stick more strongly to chemicals in the body, making it last longer or react more than other plastics.
Sea cucumbers you can eat have tiny plastic pieces in them, mostly from clothes or synthetic fibers, and those plastics are between 12 and 575 micrometers big — that's smaller than a grain of sand.