How toxic is industrial salt? (some food factories in Poland used it for sausages)

Hello together,

last weekend a new scandal occurs in Poland. 3 companies sold since 10 years 1.000 mt /monthly (3x1.000mt!!!!) industrial salt to food factories.
Most got used for cold cuts, sausages etc.
Does somebody knows, how toxic/dangerous this salt is in fact? Healthy it is in any case not, I guess.

Regards
Sven

P.S. I know, why I'm buying imported food :-)

it is being tested at the moment. Just wait and don't buy more Polish food for now.

Carcinogenic. Damage to digestive and nervous system. Polish government already trying to sweep the scandal under the rug fearing for damage to Polsih exports.
The health of ordinary people doesn't matter, it's all about letting the big business extract maximum profits. In the last few years a significant increase in cancer, infertility, diabetes in Poland was noted.

Industrial salt is just normal salt without added Iodine (which is added to table salt) and usually in larger crystals.

It is not toxic in reasonable quantities. Furthermore, food processing industry usually uses industrial salt, not table salt, for making things like sausages etc.

Remember, even too much normal table salt can be fatal (more than 1gm per kilogram of body weight in a single dose).

Absurd. Industrial salt contains large amounts of sodium sulphate, which is quite toxic. Most important is degeneration of nevous system. It explains, why I feel so tired, seemingly without any reason, for almost a year now.

Polish industrial salt is mainly polonium. Should be obvious.

and more seriously the salt in question comes from purifying of CaCl2 that is produced in Solvay process - so the main contamination must be calcium chloride itself - small amounts of the substance are not dangerous and it is even approved as a food additive in Europe - perhaps some other contaminants come in play in much smaller amounts (like ammonia chloride and similar)

All salt is poisonous, as is pretty well anything in a large enough quantity. Processed food contains plenty of salt - also refined sugar. Especially so in Poland to reflect consumer tastes. Wędliny especially contains lots of salt and also saltpetre (Postassium Nitrate). Small quantities aren't necessarily harmful however over time neither salt nor saltpetre are especially good for you.

Industrial salt however has several definitions - 'salts' might be a better word than 'salt'. It is these other substances (which vary according to the type of industrial salts used) that are the problem. All are dangerous in their own way. If it is pure salt (as Polsyr says, without iodine) there is no problem. If the salts however contain things unsuitable for food use it is a whole different matter.

The industrial salts thing might be a fuss over nothing, however it needs to be investigated immediately, products from the affected factories need to be taken of the market, the investigations need to be transparent and this could lead to huge international lawsuits.

This is particularly worrying since Poland is a major exporter of processed foods.

Someone told me that an industrial salt is a salt straight out of mine, therefore not refined.
I understand it this way: our forefathers were eating it for centuries and were ok :)

AMASOL, £ojewski i KONSAL - these are the poisoners.

not true - the salt we are talking about is a waste of a Solvay process (look up wiki) - this kind of salt is not considered edible salt in Poland (by law) but is not really toxic (unless there are strange anti-caking agents added - but usually the same anti-caking stuff is added both to edible and road salt)

Either way it seems that those who panic should hold their breath - there is many toxic compounds in air too! ;)

Except the government don't hold a major investigation about adding air to products.

This whole thing is very worrying.

JonnyM

If law was broken then guilty should be punished.

I merely saying that it's a silly to panic knowing how polluted environment is and how many artificial additives, which might be proved in future to be harmful, we eat.

That's what the thread is about. And whether or not the government will be transparent about it due to the sensitivity of exports.


We should take great care about what is added to processed foods, none of which are good for you in the first place.

It seams, that "Don't Panic" (Douglas Adams) is the motto these days :-)
We try to buy always imported food and the small amount of polish stuff we will toss away.
But it is really strange, that this case is not making bigger waves until now.

Living in Poland is still an adventure...

The thread is about how toxic is the industrial salt.

Have you stopped using antiperspirants? Do you choose carefully when buying a t-shirt?

Of course such cases should not be ignored and carefully examinated. The point is not to panic. On daily basis our organisms are dealing with carcinogens yet we still alive and we are the lognest living generations in world's history.

And we've established that it's very toxic indeed and that there's a government investigation into companies who have been selling it to food processing plants.


I only use essential oils and don't wear tee-shirts.


I think it's too early for countries to think about banning imports of processed foods from Poland, however we can't be too careful about this.

I understand that this case will reinforce your prejudice toward Polish food but before that case came into light what was the reason of your suspiciousness? You live in Poland and prefer a food which came through hundreds of miles?


But you wear some clothes, don't you?


Where and when? So far we had at least two contradicting opinions on that matter: gumishu's and kondzior's

From time to time. What has this got to do with Polish companies adding industrial salt to processed foods?


Read the thread.

we have actually established it is not really toxic - it mostly contains (appart from table salt NaCl itself) subtstances that are allowed food additives in Europe (CaCl2, anti-caking agent (probably the same that is added to table salt), some trace amounts of ammonia salts - I don't think any significant amounts of sulphates are present as sulphur and sulphates are not used in the Solvay process that is the origin of the salt

If dye molecules in cloth are badly tied with fibres then some of them might react with sweat making caricinogenic substances which are absorbed into your body by skin. Carcinogens are also in some bad quality plastics and rubbers (smell is a good indicator).

Maybe, however this is dodging the issue - that Polish food producers have been using huge quantities of substances worrying enough for the government to investigate.

Now I understand why you are so alarmed!
The goverment (CBA) investigation is due to the fact that the reporters were afraid to inform the police becuase of an influencial policeman being a sharer of some of the companies involved into the scandal or so.

gumishu

Is sól wypadowa the same thing as sól przemysłowa?

Two questions come to mind.

1. What are the exact impurities that got into the food chain because of this? And
2. If they can put industrial salts into the kielbasa, why can't they put some on the pavements too!

I am not sure what are the technical definitions of these two - one (professional) source claims sól wypadowa is a waste product of CaCl2 production while other sources state that brine mines in Kujawy sell sól wypadowa in which case I doubt it is a waste in the said process but most probably just unrefined brine residue - I am not sure what kind of salt is used in the Solvay process in Kujawy but I guess it's not the table grade salt and in this case it can contain some sulphur in the form of potassium and magnesium (to a lesser extent calcium) sulphates (this is because of the geology of the salt deposits there) this may be why sól wypadowa can contain sulphates (maximum 4.5 per cent according to some regulations) but I guess it is mostly much less than this

I've just checked some random comapny who sells sól wypadowa and the composition is like that:
96% NaCl
4% Na2SO4
max 0,2% H2O
K4Fe(CN)6 (without percentage)

gumishu

I ask because one time they say sól wypadowa (and the first what I heard was that term), the other time sól przemysłowa, sól odpadowa...


I don't quite understand you. I figure you wanted to ask why they can't put on pavements edible salt? The answer is simple edible salt is 4 times more expensive.

All salt is not poisonous. In fact, your body needs a little salt, just not too much.

the 4 per cent Na2SO4 content is maximum - it's not and intended ingredient (but a residue from raw mined material) and it is mainly sodium sulphate that is responsible for corrosive properties of road salt

the K4Fe(CN)6 -żelazocyjanek potasu is the anti-caking ingredient - it's content is less then 30 mg/kg - it is not toxic btw - the prussic acid parts form a solid complex ion with around iron atom and are only released in very high temeperature or/and in the presence of strong acids - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_ferrocyanide - it is extensively used in chemical analysis and no special precautions need to be taken (I know cause I have used it)

Guys, if you call a salt supplier and ask for industrial salt to be used for food processing, with no further elaboration, what you will receive is NaCl (Sodium Chloride) and is IDENTICAL to REFINED table salt, without the Iodine. Dishwasher salt is basically industrial salt with more anti-caking agent. It remains on every plate and every glass that goes in the dishwasher, yet it doesn't kill anyone - if used as intended.

Unrefined salt is something different, and that is used to de-ice roads for example, where it is mixed with sand or grit intentionally to improve traction and to enhance its ice abrasion properties.

Lots of potentially toxic substances go into food processing.

Did you know that Potassium FerroCYANIDE is added to the salt you eat everyday to stop the grains from sticking together when the air is moist?

My grandmother used CaCl2 (Calcium Chloride) when she made jams and preserves, and nobody ever got sick :) This "salt" has hundreds of other applications.

Just checked this one and according to wiki it is an anti-caking agent.


is sodium sulfate. English wiki site recites among many aplications also: "an additive to cattle feed"


Funny coinsidence I've just read some random forum comment and a guy said that people when hear cyanide in some word go panic ;)
Gumishu beat you in an explanation: