Food Additives & Contaminants: Part A

ISSN: 1944-0049 (Print) 1944-0057 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tfac20

Contamination of table salts from Turkey with

microplastics

Sedat Gündoğdu

To cite this article: Sedat Gündoğdu (2018): Contamination of table salts from Turkey with
microplastics, Food Additives & Contaminants: Part A, DOI: 10.1080/19440049.2018.1447694

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/19440049.2018.1447694

Accepted author version posted online: 05

Mar 2018.

Submit your article to this journal

View related articles

View Crossmark data

Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at

http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=tfac20
Publisher: Taylor & Francis & Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis

Journal: Food Additives & Contaminants: Part A

DOI: 10.1080/19440049.2018.1447694

Contamination of table salts from Turkey with microplastics

Sedat Gündoğdu*

Cukurova University, Faculty of Fisheries, Department of Basic Sciences, 01330, Adana/Turkey

*
Corresponding author email: sgundogdu@cu.edu.tr

Abstract
Microplastic (MPs) pollution has become a problem that affects all aquatic, atmospheric and
terrestial environments in the world. In this study, we looked into whether MPs in seas and lakes
reach consumers through table salt. For this purpose, we obtained 16 brands of table salts from
the Turkish market, and determined their MPs content with microscopic and Raman
spectroscopic examination. According to our results, the MP particle content was 16-84 item/kg
in sea salt, 8-102 item/kg in lake salt and 9-16 item/kg in rock salt. The most common plastic
polymers were polyethylene (22.9%) and polypropylene (19.2%). When the amounts of MPs and
the amount of salt consumed by Turkish consumers per year are considered together, if they
consume sea salt, lake salt or rock salt, they consume 249-302, 203-247 or 64-78 items per year
respectively. This is the first time this concerning level of MPs content in table salts in the
Turkish market has been reported.

Keywords: Microplastic, Table salt, Contamination, Food security, Turkey

Introduction
The amount of manufactured plastics on a world scale reached 335 million tons in 2016
(PlasticEurope, 2017). A significant quantity of these plastics end up in marine ecosystems

1
through various ways, and are broken into smaller particles through various processes (Jambeck
et al., 2015). There is no unambiguous and internationally recognized definition of microplastics
(MPs) but they can be defined as a heterogeneous mixture of differently shaped materials referred
to as fragments, fibres, spheroids, granules, pellets, flakes or beads, in the range of 0.1–5,000 μm
(Arthur et al., 2009; EFSA, 2016). It is estimated that 6-12 million tons of plastic reach marine
ecosystems per year (Jambeck et al., 2015) and 92% of this plastic pollution is in the form of
MPs (Eriksen et al., 2014; Suaria et al., 2016; Thompson, 2016). It is obvious that this amount of
MPs threatens the entire marine life. Currently, it is estimated that 700 marine creatures are under
threat by plastic pollution (Gall and Thompson, 2015; Vince and Hardesty, 2017). The
Mediterranean ecosystem is among those with the highest amount of pollution pressure due to
plastic, heavy metals etc. (Cozar et al., 2015; Gündoğdu and Çevik, 2017; Reisser et al., 2013;
Ruiz-Orejon et al., 2016; Ryan, 2013; Suaria, et al., 2016; van der Hal et al., 2017).
It can be naturally expected for plastic pollution of this extent to end up in the products
that are acquired through marine and freshwater ecosystems. Many researchers have reported that
MPs affect various marine and freshwater products (clams, fulmars, mussels, marine and
freshwater fish etc.) (Davidson and Dudas, 2016; De Witte et al., 2014; Foekema et al., 2013;
Grigorakis et al., 2017; Ory et al., 2017; Petry and Benemann, 2017; Terepocki et al., 2017). MPs
could transfer to humans through products acquired from the aquatic environment. One of the
most important transport routes is table salt. Water drawn from seas or lakes to manufacture salt,
can contain MPs, organic materials and sand particles. With regard to MP contamination, table
salts do not carry contamination that comes from aquatic sources alone. In addition to this, there
is a high probability of MPs contamination of table salt during the manufacturing process (Yang
et al., 2015). During the general production processes of lake and sea salt, salt water is pumped
into the evaporation ponds where it is concentrated by the effect of the sun and wind. The salt
then concentrates and crystallizes on the surface of the crystallizers; in which the salt is collected
by means of a closed and controlled collection process. Then, the salt is subjected to different
physical processes before being packaged in different containers for multiple uses and different
applications. Rock salts are prepared after a refining process. In this process, the salts from
various sources are refined. Both processes are open and therefore susceptible to airborne and
other kind of contamination (Soylak and Yılmaz, 2006).

2
 Currently, there are only a few studies that focus on the MPs content of table salts (Yang
et al., 2015; Iñiguez et al., 2017; Karami et al., 2017a; ). Yang et al. (2015) examined sea, lake
and rock salts sold in the Chinese market and reported a MPs contamination level of 7-681
item/kg. Iñiguez et al. (2017) analyzed 21 different samples of commercial table salt from Spain
and they reported that 50–280 MPs/kg salt. Karami et al. (2017a) examined only sea salts and
reported a MPs contamination level of 1-10 item/kg. No studies other than these three were
encountered.

The World Health Organization recommends a salt intake of 5 g per day for a healthy
adult (WHO, 2012). However, the amount consumed is 8-11 g per day for Europe, and 10 g per
day globally (Mozaffarian et al., 2014). Salt consumption in Turkey of 14.8 – 18.01 g/day is
significantly higher than both European and global averages (Erdem et al., 2010; Erkoyun et al.,
2016). This high amount of consumption would naturally increase the quantity of particles
consumed from table salt.

Studies reveal that there is significant MPs pollution in Turkish seas (Aytan et al., 2016;
Gündoğdu and Çevik, 2017). Aytan et al. (2016) reported that average MPs concentration in
November is 1.2 ± 1.1 × 103 particles/m−3 and in February is 0.6 ± 0.55 × 103 particles/m−3 for the
Black Sea coast of Turkey. Gündoğdu and Çevik (2017) reported that the average level of both
micro-and MPs is 0.376 item/m2 for northeast Levantine coasts of Turkey. Despite this, there
were no studies that examine how this contamination impacts on human consumption through
marine products. This study aims for the first time to show the level of MPs contamination in
table salts currently available in the Turkish market.

Materials and Methods

Collection of Table Salts

A total of 16 table salt brands that are manufactured in major salt production centers in
Turkey (Fig. 1) and sold around Turkey were obtained between February-March 2017. These
salts were of 3 main types (sea salt, lake salt and rock salt) and were produced in different
manufacturing centers. These salts are available on the market in 500-750 g packs. For this
purpose, salts were collected as three packs per brand and at least five different brands per salt
type (Table 1).

3
Extraction of Microplastics
MPs extraction was performed using the method outlined in Yang et al. (2015) and Karami
et al. (2017a). An aliquot of 250g was weighed from each package and put in 1 liter jars, then
100 mL 30% H2O2 was added to oxidise any organic materials. These glass jars were covered and
placed into an oscillation incubator at 65 °C with 80 rpm shaking speed for 24 hours. After this,
samples were left at room temperature for 48 hours. Afterwards, pure water (800 mL) was added
to each bottle, and the bottles were stirred using a glass rod until all the salt had dissolved. After
the salt was completely dissolved, the bottles were left to rest for 24 hours at room temperature.
After it was ensured that the settling process was complete, the supernatant in the bottles was
passed through a 47 mm 0.2 µm cellulose nitrate membrane filter and placed in sterile petri
dishes. The membrane filter was placed in a 100 mL laboratory bottle and was treated with 10-15
mL 4 M NaI (approximate density=1.8 g/ml) as described by Karami et al. (2017a). The bottle
was centrifuged to ensure the complete separation of MPs. The supernatant was transferred to a
cellulose nitrate membrane filter for optical and Raman examination. Material remaining at the
bottom of the bottles was also transferred to petri dishes and set aside for microscopic
examination.

Microscopic Examination
Filter papers were examined under an Olympos SZX 16 microscope with a Canon EOS
450D camera attached at magnification levels between 0.7x-30x. Particles that were thought to be
MPs were photographed and measured using ImageJ v1.50i software. MPs were classified
according to their colors, forms and shapes as established by Doyle et al. (2011) and Hidalgo-Ruz
et al. (2012).

Identification of Microplastics by µ-Raman

After microscopic examination, the membrane filter was examined using the fully
automatic Renishaw InVia Reflex Raman Microscopy System (Renishaw Plc., New Mills,
Wotton-under-Edge Gloucestershire, U.K.) equipped with a 785 nm diode and a 514 nm Ar+
laser in Gaziantep University Chemistry Department. The spectrum range used was 300-2000 cm-
1
and 2 second scans were taken. Commercially available polymers were used to identify polymer
types. The reference samples of ABS, HDPE, LDPE, Nylon 6, PA, PET, PMMA, POM, PP, PS,

4
PVA and PVC were kindly provided by plastic manufacturers. All of them are related to practical
materials for common market applications (packaging, consumer products) and are not equipped
with high loadings of specific additives. Additionally, the spectra acquired were also compared to
those reported by Lenz et al. (2015), Remy et al. (2015), Kappler et al. (2016) and Karami et al.
(2017).
Prevention of Contamination
To prevent contamination during MPs extraction, all equipment and work surfaces were
cleaned with pure ethanol 70%, and all operations were performed under closed fume hood.
Cleaning was done using a cellulose towel and any Raman spectrum presenting cellulose were
removed from results. At all times during which an operation was not ongoing, the bottles were
kept capped and all other equipment were kept in lidded glass containers. To determine if there
was any contamination despite these precautions, for each salt type, an empty petri dish was kept
uncovered near the working area during the process. These dishes were also covered when an
operation was not ongoing. During microscopy identification, the microscope was covered a
Nylon bag as defined by Torre et al. (2016).

Data Analysis
Microplastic presence was given as items per kg. One-way ANOVA was used to analyze
whether plastic particle sizes, numbers and types show any difference, based on brand or salt
type. A Duncan multiple comparison test was used for mean differences (Gündoğdu, 2014). All
analyses were performed at significance level 0.05 using SPSS v22 software.

Results
It was discovered that the salts collected from the market were visibly white, but the color of
two brands sold as "organic sea salt" were darker. During vacuum pump filtering, it took longer
to filter these salts compared to the others. For all three types of salts, it was observed that the
brands that were harder to filter were darker in color on the membrane filter, and the lighter ones
were easier to filter (Table 1; Fig. 2).

Type, Size and Amount of Microplastics Identified with Microscope

5
 The MPs particle content is found to be 16-84 item/kg in sea salt, 8-102 item/kg in lake salt
and 9-16 item/kg in rocksalt (Fig. 3). On the blank filter paper that was used to determine
airborne contamination, MPs amount was determined to be 2.03 ± 1.01 item/salt type.
It was determined that salt types demonstrate a statistically significant difference with
regards to MPs presence (p<0.05). Highest amount of MPs was found in sea salt, (46 ± 12.6
item/kg), followed by lake salt (37.5 ± 14.1 item/kg) while the lowest amount was found in rock
salt (11.8 ± 1.2) (Fig. 3).

Among salt types, the MPs amounts in rock salt did not demonstrate a statistically significant
difference between brands (p>0.05). MPs amounts in sea salt has demonstrated a statistically
significant difference (p<0.05), with the highest amounts of MPs discovered in brand 5 (84
item/kg; Figure 3). In lake salt, MPs amounts demonstrated a statistically significant difference
between brands (p<0.05) and the highest MPs amount was discovered in brand 2 (102 item/kg)
(Fig. 3).
In all salt types, it was found that MPs types show statistically significant differences
(p<0.05). The highest amount of MPs type discovered was fibre (>%70 in each salt type,
mean=128.3 item/salt type), followed by fragment (mean=24 item/salt type) and the lowest
amount found was of the film type (mean=19 item/salt type) (Fig. 3).
It was determined that the size of MPs particles ranged between 20 µm and 5 mm in size
with an average size of 2.32 mm. Among all plastics, the largest group was found to be the group
of plastics larger than 1 mm (Fig. 3).

Type of Microplastics Identified with µ-Raman

MPs acquired from sea and lake salt were identified with the help of µ-Raman. It was
determined that many types of plastics such as polyethylene (PE), polyethylene terephthlate
(PET), polyurethane (PU), polypropylene (PP), polymethyl-methacrylate (PMMA); polyamide-6
(PA-6) and polyvinylchloride (PVC) were present (Fig. 4; Table 2).

In sea salt, PU (25%) was the most frequently found plastic, while in lake salt, PE (35.3%)
was found most often. Among MPs particles from rock salt analyzed, the type was identified as
PP. Among all salts, PE (22.9%) was the type of plastic that was found most often.

6
 Discussion

This study reveals that table salts contain concerning levels of MPs. MPs were found in
all salt brands in differing amounts. Sea salt containing the highest amount of MPs (46 item/kg)
shows us the extent of MPs pollution in marine environments. Rock salts were comparatively
better in this regard, because, for rock salt, the only probable source for MPs/fiber content is the
manufacturing process (Yang et al., 2015).

That sea salt brands contained higher amount of MPs compared to other salt types is an
expected result. Severe MPs pollution in seas is a very well-known and extensively studied
subject (Eriksen, et al., 2014). MPs pollution to this extent is a factor that naturally increases the
MPs contamination of sea salts. Two regions where sea salts sold in the Turkish markets were
manufactured, Ayvalık and Çamaltı (Fig. 1.) are regions where urbanization (258 person/km 2;
352 person/km2 respectively; TUIK, 2016) tourism and agricultural activities are significant. This
naturally increases the pollution pressure on both regions (Erdoğmuş et al., 2013; Irtem et al.,
2011). Auta et al. (2017),, states that rivers, drainage systems, runoff from wastewater treatment
plants, and action of wind, current, and waves form the most significant sources of MPs pollution
in marine environments. Both regions are under significant pressure in this regard. In the end,
salts that are put on sale without first being put through a good filtering system would carry all
MPs contained in the marine ecosystem to the consumers directly. In addition to this, since there
are no studies on the level of MPs pollution in the areas where salts sold in the Turkish market, it
is not possible to compare the types of MPs in seawater and sea salt.

The sources of lake salt in the Turkish market are classified as preservation areas. This
limits the amount of human activity around these lakes (Çelik et al., 2008; Dengiz et al., 2010;
Soylak and Yilmaz, 2006). Despite this, factors like wind and rivers flowing to these lakes might
carry waste from nearby cities. Wright and Kelly (2017) report that agricultural plastics can
contaminate water ecosystems through wind. In addition, neglect during the manufacturing
process can cause transfer of MPs from the production areas to the salt (Yang et al., 2015).
Visible differences between brands can be explained by this (Fig. 3). In fact, at this point, no
matter how far these kinds of ecosystems are from cities, they can still contain high amounts of
MPs, as reported by various researchers (Lavers and Bond, 2017; Zhang et al., 2016). The high

7
level of MPs waste we have seen in lake salt in this study can be explained similarly. Since there
are no studies that report the level of MPs pollution in Turkish lakes, it was not possible for us to
make any comparisons.

Many studies report that the most frequently seen MPs in water ecosystems are PE and
PET type plastics (Andrady, 2011; Andrady and Neal, 2009; Hidalgo-Ruz et al., 2012). This
would affect the MPs content of products that come directly from water ecosystems. In fact, the
results of the µ-Raman analysis performed as part of this study seem to support this information
(Fig. 4; Table 2).

MPs produce a wide variety of negative effects such as environmental, economic, safety,
health and cultural (Barnes et al., 2009; Karami et al., 2017b). Due to the chemical composition
of MPs themselves, potential of releasing adsorbed persistent organic pollutant (POPs), and
leaching of additives of the MPs such as bisphenol A etc. MPs in the aquatic ecosystems have
been found to be toxic (Bouwmeester et al., 2015; Iñiguez et al., 2017). On the other hand,
according to Cauwenberghe and Janssenthe (2014), the presence of MPs in seafood could pose a
threat to food safety, however, due to the complexity of estimating microplastic toxicity,
estimations of the potential risks for human health posed by microplastics in foodstuffs is not
(yet) possible. Although it is not possible to estimate potential risk, the involvement of a non-
nutrient chemistry in the food chain could pose a risk. So, it is necessary to evaluate this risk
together with the risk potential of table salt and similar foods containing microplastics. The
negative effects of salt on human health (such as kidney disease, high blood pressure etc.) are
well known (Erdem et al., 2010; Erkoyun et al., 2016; Mozaffarian et al., 2014). When effects
related to MPs are added to these effects, it would be easier to see the magnitude of the threat
faced. Turkey is a country where salt consumption of 14.8 – 18.01 g/day is high (Erdem et al.,
2010; Erkoyun et al., 2016). When this is considered alongside the amount of MPs we found in
salts (46 item/kg for sea salt; 37.5 item/kg lake salt; 11.8 item/kg rock salt) the amount of plastic
an average Turkish citizen can annually consume reaches worrisome levels. If sea salt is
consumed, people consume 248.5-302.4 items per year, if lake salt is consumed, they would
consume 202.5-246.5 items per year, and if rock salt is consumed, they would consume 63.7-77.5
items per year. Yang et al. (2015) reports this amount as 1000 item/year for China, while Karami
et al. (2017), reports this as 37 item/year globally. Since all these amounts are related to the

8
amount of salt consumed, it is obvious that if salt consumption is reduced and filtration during
manufacturing is improved to remove MPs, these amounts would decrease. Microplastics have
been found to contain an average of 4% additive and may absorb organic and inorganic
contaminants (EFSA, 2016). The toxicity and toxicokinetic data required to assess the effect of
exposure to this contamination to human health is lacking. For this reason, it is difficult to deduce
that microplastics have a direct toxic effect on human health. But this does not mean that
microplastics are not dangerous either. For this reason, this study shows that human exposure to
microplastics occurs through aquatic foods, and the potential toxicological effects need to be
explored extensively.

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank Dr Mehmet Kahraman from the chemistry department of
Gaziantep University for providing the opportunity to use the Raman spectro instrument and
thanks to Prof. Cem Cevik to help interpret the results.

References
Andrady, A. L. (2011). Microplastics in the marine environment. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 62:
1596-1605.

Andrady, A. L., & Neal, M. A. (2009). Applications and societal benefits of plastics.
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 364(1526), 1977-
1984.

Arthur, C., Baker, J., & Bamford, H. (2009). Proceedings of the International Research
Workshop on the Occurrence, Effects, and Fate of Microplastic Marine Debris,
September 9-11, 2008.
Auta, H. S., Emenike, C. U., & Fauziah, S. H. (2017). Distribution and importance of
microplastics in the marine environment: a review of the sources, fate, effects, and
potential solutions. Environment international, 102:165-176.

Aytan, U., Valente, A., Senturk, Y., Usta, R., Esensoy Sahin, F. B., Mazlum, R. E., & Agirbas, E.
(2016). First evaluation of neustonic microplastics in Black Sea waters. Marine
Environmental Research, 119: 22-30.

Barnes, D. K., Galgani, F., Thompson, R. C., & Barlaz, M. (2009). Accumulation and
fragmentation of plastic debris in global environments. Philosophical Transactions of the
Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 364(1526), 1985-1998.

9
Bouwmeester, H., Hollman, P. C., & Peters, R. J. (2015). Potential health impact of
environmentally released micro-and nanoplastics in the human food production chain:
experiences from nanotoxicology. Environmental science & technology, 49: 8932-8947.

Cozar, A., Sanz-Martin, M., Marti, E., Gonzalez-Gordillo, J. I., Ubeda, B., Galvez, J. A., Irigoien,
X., & Duarte, C. M. (2015). Plastic accumulation in the Mediterranean sea. PLoS One,
10: e0121762.

Çelik, M., Ünsal, N., Tüfenkçi, O. O., & Bolat, S. (2008). Assessment of water quality and
pollution of the Lake Seyfe basin, Kırşehir, Turkey. Environmental geology, 55: 559-569.

Davidson, K., & Dudas, S. E. (2016). Microplastic Ingestion by Wild and Cultured Manila Clams
(Venerupis philippinarum) from Baynes Sound, British Columbia. Archives of
Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 71: 147-156.
De Witte, B., Devriese, L., Bekaert, K., Hoffman, S., Vandermeersch, G., Cooreman, K., &
Robbens, J. (2014). Quality assessment of the blue mussel (Mytilus edulis): comparison
between commercial and wild types. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 85: 146-155.

Dengiz, O., Ozcan, H., Koksal, E. S., Baskan, O., & Kosker, Y. (2010). Sustainable natural
resource management and environmental assessment in the Salt Lake (Tuz Golu)
Specially Protected Area. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 161: 327-342.
EFSA Contam Panel (EFSA Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain). (2016). Statement on the
presence of microplastics and nanoplastics in food, with particular focus on seafood.
EFSA Journal, 14: 4501

Erdem, Y., Arici, M., Altun, B., Turgan, C., Sindel, S., Erbay, B., Derici, U., Karatan, O.,
Hasanoglu, E., & Caglar, S. (2010). The relationship between hypertension and salt intake
in Turkish population: SALTURK study. Blood Pressure, 19: 313-318.

Erdoğmuş, S. F., Mutlu, B., Korcan, S. E., Güven, K., & Konuk, M. (2013). Aromatic
hydrocarbon degradation by halophilic archaea isolated from Çamaltı Saltern, Turkey.
Water, Air, & Soil Pollution, 224: 1449.

Eriksen, M., Lebreton, L. C., Carson, H. S., Thiel, M., Moore, C. J., Borerro, J. C., Galgani, F.,
Ryan, P. G., & Reisser, J. (2014). Plastic Pollution in the World's Oceans: More than 5
Trillion Plastic Pieces Weighing over 250,000 Tons Afloat at Sea. PLoS One, 9:
e111913.

Erkoyun, E., Sozmen, K., Bennett, K., Unal, B., & Boshuizen, H. C. (2016). Predicting the health
impact of lowering salt consumption in Turkey using the DYNAMO health impact
assessment tool. Public Health, 140: 228-234.

10
Foekema, E. M., De Gruijter, C., Mergia, M. T., van Franeker, J. A., Murk, A. J., & Koelmans,
A. A. (2013). Plastic in north sea fish. Environmental Science & Technology, 47(15),
8818-8824.
Gall, S. C., & Thompson, R. C. (2015). The impact of debris on marine life. Marine Pollution
Bulletin, 92: 170-179.

Grigorakis, S., Mason, S. A., & Drouillard, K. G. (2017). Determination of the gut retention of
plastic microbeads and microfibers in goldfish (Carassius auratus). Chemosphere, 169:
233-238.

Gündoğdu, S. (2014). The usage of common multiple comparison tests (post-hoc) in fisheries
sciences. Journal of FisheriesSciences. com, 8: 310-316.
Gündoğdu, S., & Çevik, C. (2017). Micro-and mesoplastics in Northeast Levantine coast of
Turkey: The preliminary results from surface samples. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 118:
341-347.
Hidalgo-Ruz, V., Gutow, L., Thompson, R. C., & Thiel, M. (2012). Microplastics in the marine
environment: a review of the methods used for identification and quantification.
Environmental Science & Technology, 46: 3060-3075.

Iñiguez, M. E., Conesa, J. A., & Fullana, A. (2017). Microplastics in Spanish Table Salt.
Scientific reports, 7(1), 8620.

Irtem, E., Kabdasli, M., Bagci, T., & Oguz, E. (2011). Numerical Modeling and Site
Investigation on Water Body Movements in Ayvalik Bay, Turkey. Journal of Coastal
Research, 64: 1053.

Jambeck, J. R., Geyer, R., Wilcox, C., Siegler, T. R., Perryman, M., Andrady, A., Narayan, R., &
Law, K. L. (2015). Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean. Science, 347(6223),
768-771.

Karami, A., Golieskardi, A., Choo, C.K., Larat, V., Galloway, T.S., & Salamatinia, B., 2017a.
The presence of microplastics in commercial salts from different countries. Scientific
Reports, 7.

Karami, A., Golieskardi, A., Choo, C.K., Romano, N., Ho, Y.B., & Salamatinia, B., 2017b. A
high-performance protocol for extraction of microplastics in fish. Science of the Total
Environment 578: 485-494.

Lavers, J. L., & Bond, A. L. (2017). Exceptional and rapid accumulation of anthropogenic debris
on one of the world’s most remote and pristine islands. Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences, 201619818.

11
Mozaffarian, D., Fahimi, S., Singh, G. M., Micha, R., Khatibzadeh, S., Engell, R. E., Lim, S.,
Danaei, G., Ezzati, M., & Powles, J. (2014). Global sodium consumption and death from
cardiovascular causes. New England Journal of Medicine, 371: 624-634.
Ory, N. C., Sobral, P., Ferreira, J. L., & Thiel, M. (2017). Amberstripe scad Decapterus muroadsi
(Carangidae) fish ingest blue microplastics resembling their copepod prey along the coast
of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in the South Pacific subtropical gyre. Science of the Total
Environment.
Petry, M. V., & Benemann, V. R. (2017). Ingestion of marine debris by the White-chinned Petrel
(Procellaria aequinoctialis): Is it increasing over time off southern Brazil? Marine
Pollution Bulletin. (in Press)

PlasticEurope. (2015). Plastics–The facts 2015: An analysis of European plastics production,

demand and waste data. In, vol. 2016.

Reisser, J., Shaw, J., Wilcox, C., Hardesty, B. D., Proietti, M., Thums, M., & Pattiaratchi, C.
(2013). Marine plastic pollution in waters around Australia: characteristics,
concentrations, and pathways. PLoS One, 8: e80466.

Ruiz-Orejon, L. F., Sarda, R., & Ramis-Pujol, J. (2016). Floating plastic debris in the Central and
Western Mediterranean Sea. Marine Environmental Research, 120: 136-144.
Ryan, P. G. (2013). A simple technique for counting marine debris at sea reveals steep litter
gradients between the Straits of Malacca and the Bay of Bengal. Marine Pollution
Bulletin, 69: 128-136.

Soylak, M., & Yilmaz, S. (2006). Heavy metal levels in sediment samples from Lake Palas,
Kayseri-Turkey. Fresenius Environmental Bulletin, 15: 340-344.
Suaria, G., Avio, C. G., Mineo, A., Lattin, G. L., Magaldi, M. G., Belmonte, G., Moore, C. J.,
Regoli, F., & Aliani, S. (2016). The Mediterranean Plastic Soup: synthetic polymers in
Mediterranean surface waters. Scientific Reports, 6: 37551.

Terepocki, A. K., Brush, A. T., Kleine, L. U., Shugart, G. W., & Hodum, P. (2017). Size and
dynamics of microplastic in gastrointestinal tracts of Northern Fulmars (Fulmarus
glacialis) and Sooty Shearwaters (Ardenna grisea). Marine Pollution Bulletin. (in Press)

Thompson, R. C. (2016). Sources, Distribution, and Fate of Microscopic Plastics in Marine

Environments.

Torre, M., Digka, N., Anastasopoulou, A., Tsangaris, C., & Mytilineou, C. (2016).
Anthropogenic microfibres pollution in marine biota. A new and simple methodology to
minimize airborne contamination. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 113: 55-61.

12
van der Hal, N., Ariel, A., & Angel, D. L. (2017). Exceptionally high abundances of
microplastics in the oligotrophic Israeli Mediterranean coastal waters. Marine Pollution
Bulletin. (in Press)
Vince, J., & Hardesty, B. D. (2017). Plastic pollution challenges in marine and coastal
environments: from local to global governance. Restoration Ecology, 25: 123-128.
WHO, G. (2012). Sodium intake for adults and children. World Health Organization, 2.

Yang, D. Q., Shi, H. H., Li, L., Li, J. N., Jabeen, K., & Kolandhasamy, P. (2015). Microplastic
Pollution in Table Salts from China. Environmental Science & Technology, 49: 13622-
13627.

Zhang, K., Su, J., Xiong, X., Wu, X., Wu, C., & Liu, J. (2016). Microplastic pollution of
lakeshore sediments from remote lakes in Tibet plateau, China. Environmental Pollution,
219: 450-455.

13
Table 1. Information about Collected Table Salts from Turkish Market

Brand Type Origin Brand Type Origin

1 Sea Salt Çamaltı 10 Lake Salt Tuz Lake, Palas Lake, Seyfe Lake
2 Sea Salt Çamaltı 11 Lake Salt Tuz Lake, Palas Lake, Seyfe Lake
3 Sea Salt Ayvalık 12 Rock Salt Çankırı
4 Sea Salt Çamaltı 13 Rock Salt Cihanbeyli
5 Sea Salt Çamaltı 14 Rock Salt Cihanbeyli
6 Lake Salt Tuz Lake 15 Rock Salt Aksaray
7 Lake Salt Tuz Lake 16 Rock Salt Cihanbeyli
8 Lake Salt AcıGöl Lake
9 Lake Salt AcıGöl Lake

Table 2. Polymer type of Microplastics (MPs) identified with micro-Raman

Plastik type Sea Salt (%) Lake Salt (%) RockSalt (%) Total (%)
Polyethylene (PE) 12,5% 35,3% - 22,9%
Polyethylene terephthlate (PET) 18,8% 11,8% - 14,5%
Polyurethane (PU) 25,0% 11,8% - 17,5%
Polypropylene (PP) 18,8% 11,8% 100,0% 19,2%
Polymethyl-methacrylate (PMMA) - 11,8% - 5,7%
Polyamide-6 (PA-6) 12,5% 5,9% - 8,7%
Polyvinylchloride (PVC) 12,5% 11,8% 0,0% 11,6%

14
Figure 1: Main salt production areas of Turkey. Black dots are rock salts production area, squares
are sea salt production area and stars are lake salt production area.

15
Figure 2: Photographs of filter paper and extracted plastic particles. Bars indicates scale (for filter
paper= 10 mm, for fragment=0.1 mm)

16
Figure 3: Type, size and abundance of microplastics from collected table salt. In abundance chart,
each bar represents different brand

17
Figure 4: Analysis of MPs with micro-Raman. Abbrevations: Polyethylene (PE), Polyethylene
terephthlate (PET), Polyurethane (PU), Polypropylene (PP), Polymethyl-methacrylate
(PMMA), Polyamide-6 (PA-6), Polyvinylchloride (PVC)

18
Graphical Abstract

19