Salt is indispensable in our daily life, it is indispensable for life seasoning. The main components of salt are potassium iodate and sodium chloride. According to national regulations, the addition of appropriate potassium ferricyanide is safe for consumption.

Thank you for your invitation. The addition of potassium ferricyanide to table salt is not harmful to the body.

Potassium ferricyanide, what is it?

Potassium ferricyanide is a light yellow crystal or powder, which is easily decomposed by heat at high temperatures; at present, all table salt sold in the domestic market is added with potassium ferricyanide, and only some non-iodized salt or large pieces of primitive mineral salt have not been added.

When it comes to "Potassium Ferrocyanide", it is added in the production process of table salt, and its main use is to prevent table salt from caking; many people say that Potassium Ferrocyanide is poisonous, in fact, it is regarded as potassium cyanide, but in fact, they are two completely different concepts. In addition to their similar names, they have nothing in common; please don't feel highly toxic once you see "cyanide".

When discussing the toxicity of substances, it is not possible to "put aside the dose"; in terms of toxicity, there is a difference of several hundred times between potassium ferrocyanide and potassium cyanide; if toxicity is desired, an adult weighing 70 kg would have to consume at least several tens of kilograms of salt at one time, which is practically impossible to accomplish. Not to mention that it would be toxic.

Potassium ferricyanide decomposes at high temperatures to produce potassium cyanide? Is it highly toxic?

Some people say that potassium ferricyanide decomposes into potassium cyanide at high temperatures, and it is true that there is such a reaction, but the high temperature condition for this reaction needs to reach 400 degrees Celsius, however, for our daily cooking temperature at home, it will not exceed 340 degrees Celsius, that is to say, the temperature that we can reach will not be so high that the reaction will not take place at all, and the toxicity is too low to cause harm to the body.

For table salt, a certain amount of anti-caking agent is usually added to prevent it from clumping. In fact, China's national standard for potassium ferricyanide has clear provisions for it. The National Standard for Table Salt (GB5461-2000) has a clear limitation: potassium ferricyanide is a permissible chemical substance, and the standard for its addition is no more than 10mg per kilogram. China's standard is already relatively strict, for example, the European Union's limit for potassium ferricyanide is 20 grams per kilogram, which is twice as much as China's, which also proves that the addition of potassium ferricyanide to table salt is a reasonable behavior, and we can rest assured.

Having said that, you should rest assured that the addition of potassium ferricyanide to table salt is not harmful to the body, so you can eat it without worry, and any matter that puts aside the dosage to talk about toxicity belongs to the "unscientific behavior", buy from regular supermarkets and markets, and consume it in limited quantities, and eat salt correctly, and so on. Wish you well.

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First let's get to know the chemical potassium ferricyanide.

Potassium ferricyanide alias yellow blood salt, molecular formula K4Fe(CN)6-3H2O, is light yellow monoclinic crystals or powder, odorless, slightly salty taste, stable at room temperature, heated to 70 ° C began to lose the water of crystallization, 100 ° C completely lose the water of crystallization and become hygroscopic white powder. Decompose at high temperature, release nitrogen, generate potassium cyanide and iron carbide.

Potassium ferricyanide has a very low toxicity level because its cyanide ions are very strongly bound to iron. If potassium ferricyanide is toxic, why is it added to table salt? This is because potassium ferricyanide has an antagonistic effect, preventing fine powdered and crystalline foodstuffs from sloughing off. When added to table salt, the hexahedral crystals of table salt are transformed into stellate crystals, thus preventing the occurrence of agglomeration. Our country stipulates that potassium ferricyanide can be used in table salt, and China GB 2760-96 stipulates that it is allowed to be used as anti-caking agent of table salt. The maximum dosage is 0.01g/kg (in ferrocyanide root). When added to table salt, the dosage of 0.01g/kg (in terms of ferrocyanide) is obviously very small, and since it is soluble in water, the amount ingested into the body every day is very small, and the body has the ability to excrete it out of the body, so it will not cause accumulation.

As we mentioned earlier, potassium ferrocyanide undergoes decomposition reaction at high temperature and the product has the highly toxic substance potassium cyanide, which causes intracellular asphyxiation by inhibiting respiratory enzymes. Inhalation, oral or percutaneous absorption can cause acute poisoning. Oral administration of 50-100mg can cause sudden death. The World Health Organization recommends a daily salt intake of no more than 5 grams per person, according to this dose of potassium ferricyanide content of 0.05mg, even if the salt is really decomposed, then the amount of potassium cyanide generated is also very small, this amount of harm to the human body is not great. Besides, the temperature is not too high when cooking, and the salt is usually put in when the food is almost cooked.

Therefore, table salt with potassium ferricyanide added in accordance with national regulations has little impact on human health and can be used without fear.

The above is only a personal opinion, any questions or opinions are welcome to leave a comment at the bottom of the article.

The authoritative interpretation of Pharmaceutical Affairs, unauthorized reproduction, plagiarism will be punished.

Thanks for the invite:

There is no doubt that it must be harmful. Why?

Potassium ferricyanide, also known as yellow blood salt, is a light yellow monoclinic crystal or powder, odorless, slightly salty, stable at room temperature, and at high temperature (700-800 degrees Celsius) releases nitrogen and generates potassium cyanide and iron carbide.

Potassium ferricyanide has very low toxicity due to the fact that the cyanide ion in the molecule is firmly bound to iron. It can be used as an anti-caking agent for table salt to prevent salt slabs from forming.

Although the dose of potassium ferricyanide added to table salt is very small, it can be as small as negligible. However, there is no official authority to give a scientific interpretation, and the National Salt Standard Committee is only using Europe and the United States as a reference for benchmarking. In view of the lessons learned from the tainted milk powder and tainted vaccine incidents, China's food safety is indeed a cause for concern, and I have long since refrained from using potassium ferricyanide-containing table salt (low toxicity is also poisonous, and a small dosage can accumulate into a large number? Will the body's reaction vary from person to person?)

The anticaking agent of the table salt with the green food label on the market now is ferric ammonium citrate; meanwhile, with the fermentation of the potassium ferricyanide incident, table salt without anticaking agent (which is hard to sell and boarded up) is also available on the market now.

Therefore, in line with their own and their family's health is responsible for the attitude of their own usually more concerned about food safety, choose a salt without anti-caking agent with may be more reliable, the second best thing is to buy containing added ferric ammonium citrate green food labeling salt. Relying on others to protect the safety of your salt shaker, or forget it!

The above is for your reference only, don't spray if you don't like it!

Thanks for the invite.

Potassium ferricyanide looks related to potassium cyanide, but it's not actually the same thing, they're quite different.

In potassium ferricyanide, cyanide ions and iron ions are tightly chelated together and are therefore not susceptible to toxicity.

It is actually less acutely toxic than table salt itself.

The reason for adding potassium ferricyanide to table salt is to resist caking, especially in the humid areas of the south, where caking can occur if salt is not kept sealed.

In the case of large-grained sea salt, it is not necessary to use anti-caking agent because the particles are particularly large, which is why some people say that foreign salt does not add anti-caking agent, but in fact, foreign fine salt also needs anti-caking.

Potassium ferricyanide is added to table salt at very low levels, and the amount of salt consumed is very small, so the amount of potassium ferricyanide consumed daily is negligible and does not affect health at all.

As for what is said about potassium cyanide breaking down at high temperatures, this is theoretical as it breaks down at 400 degrees or more, a temperature cooking conditions can barely hit.

Even if cyanide does get released, it's actually fine because the amount is so small.

Many foods contain cyanogenic glycosides that also release cyanide, such as beans and white fruits.

At present, domestic export salt is also produced, and potassium ferricyanide is also added. Salt imported from abroad and salt sold in foreign supermarkets also has potassium ferricyanide or sodium ferricyanide added.

In fact, there are two other anti-caking agents that can be used, ferric ammonium citrate and silicon dioxide, but the former will make the color of salt slightly yellow, and the latter will cause the content of insoluble impurities to be high, so the salt company chose the cheaper and sufficient amount of potassium ferricyanide, which is also effective.

Salt has been an indispensable seasoning in our life since ancient times, but it is also closely related to chronic diseases in our life. If you look at the ingredient list, you can find a substance - potassium ferricyanide, which has recently been rumored to be "poisonous", is it really so? Potassium hexacyanoferrate, commonly known as potassium hexacyanoferrate, is a kind of light yellow crystalline particles, which is added into table salt as an anti-caking agent. In the National Standard for Food Safety - Standard for Use of Food Additives, it is clearly stipulated that the maximum dosage of potassium ferricyanide per 1 kg of salt is 10 mg.

Is potassium ferricyanide a health hazard?

Potassium ferrocyanide and potassium cyanide have similar names, but they are two completely different substances. Potassium cyanide is a highly toxic substance, and the toxicity is the cyanogen, whereas potassium ferrocyanide cannot be hydrolyzed by the cyanogen under normal environment due to the presence of ferrous ions, and potassium cyanide can only be decomposed when the temperature reaches 400 degrees Celsius.

The lifetime safe dose of potassium ferricyanide is 0.025 milligrams per kilogram of body weight, and if we are talking about health hazards, 1.5 milligrams per day for adults, which is the equivalent of eating 150 grams of salt per day, and 6 grams a day for a normal person, and if you reach 20 grams per day, you're already salty, too.

Therefore, any safe food in excess will be a burden to the body, and should not be set aside the dose to talk about toxicity. As before, shrimp and vitamin C together will be poisoned, so many people are alarmed, but this is also aside from the dose to talk about toxicity, weekdays we have to scientific tobacco control, such as more vinegar, lemon juice and other flavorings to replace part of the salt and soy sauce, and more use of some of the natural "flavor" of food, such as tomatoes, peppers, yams, etc., choose low-sodium salt, try not to eat pickled foods. Choose low-sodium salt and avoid pickled foods.

Recently, an article from the media about "salt contains potassium ferricyanide, which is hazardous to human health" has taken the internet by storm, and this article has been published, causing strong reactions from many people. Look at the salt sold in supermarkets now, most of the ingredients list contains "potassium ferricyanide", salt is a kind of seasoning that people need to eat, so if this kind of substance is really hazardous to human health, then the people are not going to be organic "quit salt"! However, "ferrocyanide" is not a substance that is harmful to human health. However, "potassium ferricyanide" is really harmful to the body? Let's take a look at the truth.

Potassium ferricyanide is safe to add to table salt

Potassium ferricyanide, also known as potassium yellow blood salt, yellow blood salt, is a light yellow crystalline granular food additives, its main role in salt is anti-coagulation, that is, to do to prevent the salt particles coagulate together to form crystals. At present, it has been proved: as a food additive added to salt, the addition of potassium ferricyanide is very safe, and as a hot spot on the network, "salt contains potassium ferricyanide which is hazardous to health" is just another rumor in food safety. In fact, the question of "the addition of potassium ferrocyanide to table salt is harmful to human health" is not just once or twice, the origin of the question has two main points, one is a food additive, the other is potassium cyanide.

Potassium ferricyanide is safe as a food additive

It has been said that the addition of potassium ferricyanide as a food additive to table salt has led to the development of disease states in people's bodies as a result of long-term consumption of this additive. However, in fact, potassium ferricyanide is a legal food additive, and even if people consume potassium ferricyanide added to domestic salt for a long period of time, it is not harmful to their health. There are various food additives in most of the food that people often eat, and as long as the food additives comply with the national food production laws and regulations, before they are allowed by the state to enter the market, they will undergo multi-channel, long-term scientific research and obtain the corresponding data to support, which includes the additives' acute and chronic toxicity, whether they will lead to deformity, carcinogenicity, and whether people can consume large quantities of them in a long period, etc. Only those additives that comply with the standards are allowed to be consumed for a long period. These include the acute and chronic toxicity of the additive, whether it will cause deformity and carcinogenicity, and whether it can be consumed in large quantities over a long period of time, and so on. Therefore, although potassium ferricyanide is contained in table salt, it can be consumed without any worries.

Potassium ferricyanide and potassium cyanide are not "family".

Another question about potassium ferricyanide stems from potassium cyanide. Potassium cyanide is a highly toxic substance, so when some people see the word "potassium cyanide" in potassium ferricyanide, they will take it for granted that the two substances are linked together, but in fact they are not "family". The chemical formula of potassium ferrocyanide is K4[Fe(CN)6], while the chemical formula of potassium cyanide is KCN, there is no similarity between them except for the similarity of their names, and the so-called "toxicity" is even more impossible to talk about. Potassium cyanide is highly toxic, while potassium ferricyanide is a low-toxicity substance of salt, in terms of dose, if potassium ferricyanide can cause poisoning, then according to the widespread use of salt, it is even more inedible; of course, some people say that potassium ferricyanide can be separated in a high-temperature environment to get rid of potassium cyanide. Of course, some people say that potassium ferrocyanide can be separated from potassium cyanide in high temperature environment. This is true, but because the combination of cyanogen and iron in potassium ferrocyanide is very strong, the chemical structure of potassium ferrocyanide itself is very stable, and it will not be decomposed in high temperature of 400 degrees Celsius, that is to say, when salt is added to cooking, the potassium ferrocyanide will still remain potassium ferrocyanide, and it will not change to part of potassium cyanide, after all, who can eat the rice and vegetables cooked in high temperature of 400 degrees Celsius? After all, who can eat food cooked at 400 degrees Celsius, can't they?

If you have a good suggestion for this issue, you are welcome to leave a comment below!

I am Wang Guizhen, welcome to pay attention to [Wang Guizhen dietitian] headline number, together to talk about health, so that we eat healthy, eat at ease!

Normally it is harmless, and it is not the salt that contains the most potassium ferricyanide, many everyday foods contain higher amounts of potassium ferricyanide.

Potassium ferricyanide is placed in table salt as an anti-caking additive, and is in fact allowed to be used according to the relevant regulations of the health authorities. Potassium ferricyanide has low toxicity because the cyanide ions in the molecule are firmly bound to iron, and it does not decompose except at high temperatures like burning, which prevents it from decomposing into the highly toxic potassium cyanide.

Like mentioned above, the potassium ferricyanide in table salt is not that much, and many foods contain much higher levels of potassium ferricyanide. Wine, for example, often uses potassium ferricyanide as a remover of iron and copper ions from the wine liquid.

As a food additive, potassium ferricyanide is most commonly used as a clarifying agent. Potassium ferricyanide is found in soy products that are consumed on a daily basis or in many beverages such as yogurt, coconut milk, peanut milk, almond milk, walnut milk, and soy milk.

Maybe you'll say that you don't usually drink any of these beverages. What about milk?

Suffice it to say that almost all milk on the market, especially the skimmed milk favored by middle-aged and older people, contains potassium ferricyanide, which is used as a clarifying agent.

Also, a lot of sweets are using potassium ferricyanide. Maybe you've never had honey cake, but you've always had chewing gum, right?

If you're afraid, do you think it's too late to regret it?

Moreover, this stuff is not only used in China. Nowadays, a lot of people like to consume specialty salts made in foreign countries, for example, I personally like Japan's Awakuni Island Sea Salt, and others, such as British salt, Italian salt, Spanish salt, French salt, German salt, Polish salt, Pakistani salt, Canadian salt, and salt made in the United States from the Gulf of Mexico, Retsof , Louisiana, and Texas, are all using potassium ferricyanide as an additive. As long as you eat Western food, you basically can't avoid it. Has eating Western food become such a high-risk endeavor? So it's not a "double standard" thing by any means.

What is more, the content of potassium ferricyanide in table salt is also very low. As long as the salt meets the standard, the content is no more than 10 milligrams per kilogram of salt. According to its toxicity, in order to reach the amount of "cause gastrointestinal discomfort", it is necessary to eat at least 150 grams of salt per day.

--If you eat 150 grams of salt a day, is "gastrointestinal distress" the least of your concerns?

Finally, salt should also be eaten sparingly, whether or not it contains potassium ferricyanide.

Potassium cyanide in table salt is poisonous" is an old rumor and an old problem. First of all, "potassium ferrocyanide" is not "potassium ferrocyanide", but "hexacyano-co-potassium ferrocyanide", or "potassium ferrocyanide". ", the stability of ferrocyanic acid is far more than potassium ions, 400 ℃ above the decomposition is possible, frying more than 200 degrees oil smoke, 400 ℃ early paste into charcoal. Secondly, in case someone really can't think of eating paste, sodium chloride LD50:3.75±0.43g/kg. potassium ferrocyanide LD50 is 1.6-3.2g/kg, potassium cyanide LD50 is 6.4mg/kg or so, the maximum amount of potassium ferrocyanide used in table salt is 10mg/kg (in terms of ferrocyanide root), interested can do some calculations, 75kg weight If you are interested, you can calculate that for a 75kg adult, you would need to eat 78kg of salt. Once again, in order to prevent kongjin "only China use foreign countries do not use", there is evidence of the U.S. standard, sodium ferrocyanide can be used as salt anticaking agent; the European Union standard and the Japanese standard, sodium ferrocyanide, potassium ferrocyanide, calcium ferrocyanide can be used as salt anticaking agent.

Recently, potassium ferricyanide in table salt has been speculated, some people even doubt whether domestic salt can be consumed, on this issue, let's explore.

What is potassium ferricyanide?

Potassium ferricyanide is a kind of salt anticaking agent, because salt is easy to deliquesce and clump, it is widely used as an additive in salt, now, China, Japan, the European Union, Australia, and New Zealand and other countries are in use.

Can potassium ferricyanide cause poisoning?

Attention! This potassium ferricyanide is not potassium cyanide, the difference between the two words, two substances, a slightly toxic and a highly toxic, experiments have proved that, when the potassium ferricyanide LD50 reaches 1.6-3.2g/kg will make the mice poisoned to death, and potassium cyanide LD50 only 5mg/kg, potassium ferricyanide in the salt does not exceed 0.01g/kg, now we should be assured that, that is, the death of a mouse to be poisoned. It's a lot of money to poison a mouse, let alone a person of our age!

Does potassium ferricyanide break down into potassium cyanide?

The structure of potassium ferricyanide is more stable, it is difficult to decompose at room temperature, and it will decompose only when it reaches a high temperature of more than 430 degrees Celsius, the highest temperature we usually cook at is not more than 300 degrees Celsius, and some TV stations have done experiments on dry-roasting of iron pots, the highest temperature is not more than 400 degrees Celsius, so it is not easy for potassium ferricyanide to turn into potassium cyanide.

After reading this, do you still worry about nothing?