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In a new study by the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), researchers have found mussels around the world's oceans contain small pieces of plastics known as microplastics. Microplastics are pieces of plastic smaller than 5mm in length. Mussels were sampled from regions such as the Arctic, and previously from coastlines of countries like China, Chile, Canada, Britain, and Belgium. Amy Lusher of NIVA said, “Microplastics have been found in mussels everywhere scientists have looked.”

Currently, the European Union and China are the biggest producers of farmed mussels. Along Norway’s coast, mussels have been found to contain on average 1.8 bits of microplastic while mussels farther north in the Arctic contain an average of 4.3 bits. What impact this has on the health of the oceans, mussels, and those that consume the mussels is yet to be determined.

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