Baseline assessment of microplastic in packaged sardine products from sabah local markets

In recent decades the production of plastic has increased rapidly worldwide. The expanding usage of plastic for almost every sector in the industry has been penetrated in the infrastructure of daily life. The implication of this scenario causes notable issues to the environment, human beings and economy. Numerous studies have shown that microplastics are widely distributed in the environment. However, very few studies have determined the presence of microplastic in canned fish sardines, especially in Sabah, Malaysia. Therefore, this study was done to quantify the presence of microplastics in canned sardines (Sardine spp.) that sold in local market in Sabah. The physical characteristics of microplastics found such as shape, color and size were investigated. A total of 200 sardine samples were collected from various brands and analyzed through a combination of visual sorting and density separation technique. The results showed that a total of 12 MPs were recovered during the quality control process (not including in the tissues samples) in 5 different brands accounting of 6% of the canned sardined samples. The majority of the microplastic were measured <0.5 mm with light yellow in colors. Fragments were the most common types found in this study followed by fiber respectively. The findings indicate that the potential external contamination occurred during the processing, packaging, or canning stages rather than from the fish’s natural ingestion. This study highlights the necessity of implementing rigorous hygiene standards in seafood processing facilities to minimize the risk of microplastic contamination during handling, packaging, and canning processes.