Microplastic Intake via Shellfish Consumption and Its Potential Risks to Human Health

Background/Aims: Microplastic contamination in marine environment and seafood has raised global concern on the human health impact. The possibility of microplastic ingested by human is very likely to occur via consumption of seafood that is eaten whole, such as shellfish. However, the risks of microplastic on human health are still under investigation. The aims of this study was to assess shellfish consumption of Semarang inhabitants and to determine their microplastic intake via shellfish consumption. Methods: Multistage random sampling method was used to determine the respondents from districts until neighborhood level. In total there were 500 respondents invited to participate in this study. The respondents were classified based on four age groups, i.e. children (0–9 years), adolescent (10–19 years), adults (20–59 years), and elderly people (60->75 years). The daily intake of shellfish of Semarang inhabitants was obtained from FFQ and recall diet. The concentrations of microplastics were obtained from a microscopic technique following a series of alkaline digestion and filtration. To estimate the microplastic intake, the daily intake of shellfish was multiplied by the average concentration of microplastics found in shellfish collected from Semarang.