Seafood is a high quality protein source with a variety of healthy fats, making it an excellent addition to your diet. However, there is a growing concern that plastic pollution in the world’s oceans may be making its way up the foodchain and ultimately into our bodies. Given the health benefits, we want to ensure that seafood remains a robust part of our food systems. Here’s what you should know and how you can make a difference while improving your own personal nutrition.
What We Know About Plastic In Seafood
We do not yet know the actual effects of plastic pollution on seafood and, ultimately, on human health. What we know for sure is that there is a considerable amount of plastic in the world’s oceans, although estimates of how much vary. We also know that marine animals injest some of this plastic. Both facts beg the question: is plastic ending up in the food chain and being passed up to our bodies, and if so, what are the effects?1 Given the gravity of the questions, there will be plenty of research on the subject.
What We Can Do About Plastic In Seafood
There is good news though. As with so many questions of health and environment, there is no need to wait for the answers. Making healthier choices for yourself will help reduce the environmental problem anyway. For example:
- Stick to whole, unpackaged foods when shopping and bring your own bag to put them in. The farmers’ market or a CSA is one of the easiest ways to do it.
- Avoid single-use containers like bottled-water, packaged snacks, and convenience foods that come with plastic cutlery.
Eating patterns such as these, which involve less processed and packaged foods and more whole foods from trusted sources, are a benefit to health. The environmental pluses, like cutting down on plastic, simply come along with it. If we make the switch together, we won’t have to worry about the effects of plastic in our seafood.
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Merijn Everaarts Of Dopper Isn’t Waiting To Take Action
The plastic problem is something that Marijn Everaarts could not ignore. After learning about it through a documentary he decided that he had to take action. The result is Dopper, a company whose mission is to create awareness, reduce single use plastic waste, and increase access to safe drinking water around the world. We sat down Marijn and Amer Jandali to talk about the company and the vision. Check it out:
How Dopper Makes Drinking Water A Global Mission