Network news: "salt into the potassium ferrocyanide endangers the health of consumers" has always existed, as a salt anti-caking agent "potassium ferrocyanide", recently again by the new media speculation spread. There are even articles that say that "the National Health commission admitted that the doubling of potassium ferrocyanide in table salt did not do any experiments", and the potassium ferrocyanide added to salt "decomposes at high temperatures, emits nitrogen, and generates potassium cyanide and iron carbide"... Produces severe poison.
Identification result: Rumors
Authoritative interpretation:
The news spread on the internet is a rumor. For "potassium ferrocyanide" as a food additive, the public's doubts are mainly in two aspects, one is whether the additive is toxic; the second is whether the inclusion of the addition is scientific and whether it has been tested.
First, potassium ferrocyanide and toxic potassium cyanide, while literally close, are vastly different in chemical properties and safety. Potassium ferrocyanide's cyanogen binds tightly to iron ions, is stable in nature, and conventional cooking methods do not produce toxic cyanogen ions. The decomposition temperature of potassium ferrocyanide is above 400 °C, and the food at this time has become coke. In addition, the content of potassium ferrocyanide in table salt is very low, even if it is decomposed to produce potassium cyanide, it is necessary to ingest dozens of pounds of table salt at a time to cause poisoning, which is impossible in life.
Secondly, the standard setting of food additives begins with its toxicity. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have departments dedicated to assessing the safety of food additives, summarizing a large number of toxicological studies on the daily dietary allowances for each food additive. Our country will take a safer amount as our standard on the basis of the results of their experiments. China, like other countries in the world, is using potassium ferrocyanide as an anti-caking agent in table salt, and the limit value is basically the same. At present, the United States, the European Union, Japan, Australia and New Zealand and other countries allow the use of potassium ferrocyanide as a salt anti-caking agent, and international standards also allow it.
In summary, potassium ferrocyanide in table salt does not cause harm to human health, and consumers do not need to worry too much.
Sources: CbN, Scientific Rumors
Related Links:
Potassium ferrocyanide in table salt is once again controversial: is it toxic? Did it pass the toxicity test?
What the! Potassium ferrocyanide added to table salt is highly toxic?
Further reading:
What is potassium ferrocyanide?
Potassium ferrocyanide as a compound, also known as yellow blood salt potassium, yellow blood salt, is a light yellow single italic crystal or powder. There are a total of 5 kinds of food additives allowed to be added in table salt in China and used as anti-caking agents, namely potassium ferrocyanide, sodium ferrocyanide, ferric ammonium citrate, silicon dioxide and calcium silicate. Potassium ferrocyanide is added to table salt as an anti-caking agent, mainly to prevent salt from clumping. Although potassium ferrocyanide is a lowly toxic substance, its chemical properties are stable, and to break down into toxic substances, it needs to be completed at a high temperature of 400 degrees Celsius.
Is potassium ferrocyanide safe?
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), the safe dose of potassium ferrocyanide for lifetime intake is 0.025 mg per kilogram of body weight. Extrapolating from the limit value in the national standard, it is equivalent to an adult eating at least 3 or 2 (150 grams) of table salt per day, which is obviously not in line with normal eating habits.
Why is potassium ferrocyanide added to table salt?
Salt moisture clumping is a common phenomenon, which will affect its use to some extent. The addition of potassium ferrocyanide to refined salt can delay or prevent salt from clumping and make it easier for consumers to access. China, like other countries in the world, is using potassium ferrocyanide as an anti-caking agent in table salt, and the limit value is basically the same. Therefore, potassium ferrocyanide in table salt does not pose a harm to human health, and consumers do not need to worry too much.
Why not use other anti-caking agents in table salt?
At present, the anti-caking agents that can be used in food are also common silicon dioxide, calcium silicate and iron ammonium citrate, why not use these in table salt? The current standard for table salt, "Edible Salt" (GB/T5461-2016), requires that the water-insoluble impurities in table salt should not be higher than 0.2%. If silica or calcium silicate is used, the amount added is at least 0.3% to obtain the desired anti-binding effect, but they are insoluble in water, exceeding the national limit on impurities that are insoluble in water. The anti-binding effect of ferric ammonium citrate is not as good as potassium ferrocyanide, and at least 20-25 mg of ferric ammonium citrate should be added per kilogram of table salt to achieve anti-binding effect, while potassium ferrocyanide only needs to add 5 mg, and ferric ammonium citrate will make the salt appear yellowish, which is not easily accepted by consumers.