What To Know About Table Salt And Its Additives?

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Written By Charlotte Miller

The importance of salt intake for the organism can already be seen because it tastes “salty,” and that salt has always been one of the most sought-after spices.

In addition to individual seasoning, table salt is indispensable in producing meat and sausage products, bread, and cheese. As a food, table salt is subject to food law regulations. A unique salt for preserving meat (curing) is nitrite curing salt. The production of which 0.4-0.5 percent of sodium nitrite, which is toxic in larger quantities, is added to table salt to achieve a comprehensive antibacterial effect.

The most significant part of salt from Wisconsin rock salt supplier intake occurs through processed foods, more minor through natural seasoning, which can vary significantly from person to person.

The share of table salt production is around three percent of total salt production. The daily salt requirement is between a minimum of 3-6 grams and a maximum of 16-20 grams of salt, depending on the individual and the climatic environment. This results in annual consumption of 1.8-6.4 kilograms. With the average consumption per person, it must be taken into account that around half of the table salt used is lost, for example, through cooking water or food waste.

Even in ancient Rome, Pliny the Elder and Lucius J. Columella estimated the amount of table salt used in the kitchen every day at around 25 grams per person, which is considerably less than today’s daily consumption. In the late 1980s, taking into account the waste of salt in the kitchen and with ready-to-cook products, the daily consumption of the average American citizen was estimated at around 135 grams of salt.

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Additives

Depending on the type of table salt, various additives are used:

Chemical Additives

Iodine

Sodium iodate or potassium iodate is added to prevent iodine deficiency (goiter prophylaxis). Iodized table salt contains 15 to 25 mg iodine per kilogram. Iodate is used because iodide is not stable underwater, and atmospheric oxygen and is converted into iodine. Potassium and sodium iodide, protected from oxidation by stabilizers such as thiosulfates, is used primarily in the USA.

Fluoride

Small amounts of sodium fluoride or potassium fluoride are added to prevent caries. This habit first emerged in Switzerland in the 1950s, where dental caries and goiters had been a severe public health problem until then.

As the recently introduced fluoridation of drinking water in the USA appeared to be too complicated due to Switzerland’s strongly decentralized water supply, the Canton of Zurich was the first to introduce fluoridated table salt in 1955; other cantons soon followed. For some years now, fluoridated table salt has held a stable market share of around 80 percent in Switzerland. Since 1983 the dosage has been 250 milligrams of fluoride per kilogram of salt.

Other countries followed the Swiss example only hesitantly: there has been fluoridated salt in France since 1983, followed by Jamaica, Costa Rica, and (1991) Germany, where the market share of this salt is now 60 percent.

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Sodium Nitrite

For curing meat, 0.4–0.5 percent sodium nitrite is added to the table salt.

Folic Acid

In some cases, table salt is also added to folic acid, as the Nutrition Society assumes an undersupply.

Flavor Additives

Seasoned Salt

It is a salt mixture consisting of around 40-85 percent table salt and at least 15 percent herbs such as basil, paprika, garlic, pepper, chili, cumin, ginger, coriander, parsley, turmeric, bay leaf, and chives. In the past, people used this salt mixture to preserve herbs for the winter. Today herbal salt is used primarily because of its diverse taste and to reduce the amount of table salt consumed. Search for Wisconsin rock salt supplier