A recent study confirmed that the accumulation of plastic in foods has a significant effect, but is frequently overlooked. In addition, microplastics that could be gathered in food may carry harmful bacteria that could inflict severe complications, such as E. coli. Most of the bacteria found in microplastics are polluting coastal waters and are being made part of the food chain.
Bacteria-infested Microplastics Affect Edible Marine Life and Human Health
University of Portsmouth experts have theorized that the microplastics coated in biofilm materials, like the natural algae, tend to be consumed by members of the marine wildlife, including oysters. The marine species' consumption of the microplastics with biofilms, according to the study, is more frequent than the organisms consuming plain, clean microplastics at all.
The experiment was conducted with the help of oysters and under laboratory conditions. But even though the examination was in a controlled environment, scientists believe that the results would be comparable to the wild oysters and other edible marine animals that are fond of processing their food through seawater filtering.
Most of the tests that were conducted regarding the correlation of microplastics and the edible marine species utilize clean microplastics. But the usage of virgin microplastics in the observations is not entirely feasible, as the conditions of microplastics present in the marine environment are significantly different. High levels of microplastics are most probably colonized already by various bacteria that hover over the ocean.
According to the study published in the journal Science of The Total Environment, entitled "The Plastic Trojan Horse: Biofilms Increase Microplastic Uptake in Marine Filter Feeders Impacting Microbial Transfer and Organism Health," the experts compared the rates of clean versus bacteria-infested microplastics currently present in our ocean. Findings from the comparison conducted in the study are quite alarming, as the subjects, particularly oysters, were comprised of 10 times more microplastics which are coated with E.coli biofilm.
E.coli Coated Biofilm Disrupts Food Chain
The E.coli biofilms found on the oysters is theorized as food for the marine animal. This would explain why the biofilms with the bacteria were abundant in most of the oysters in contrast to the clean microplastics.
The food chain, according to the authors of the study, is at stake because of the implications of biofilms on marine life. What's worse is that the microplastics not only affect oysters and other marine species, but also the health of humans. Aside from the bacterial effects of the biofilms on the edible marine animals, the biofilms themselves do not break down, which means we consume bacteria effortlessly along with the seafood that we eat.
University of Portsmouth's Marine Ecology and Evolution expert and lead author of the study Joanne Preston said that the findings of the research confirm how microplastics are like a Trojan Horse in the marine environment. According to a report by PhysOrg, oysters seem to have no plans of stopping consuming microplastics, and although clean MPs are available in the ocean, the rate of bacteria-coated MPs is also abundant in our planet's water bodies.
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