Overview
Caridi and colleagues analysed nine food salts sold by large Italian retailers for potassium-40 and cesium-137 by gamma spectrometry and for copper, arsenic, cadmium, mercury and lead by ICP-MS. The set includes an Italian iodized salt and a hyposodic iodized salt alongside specialty sea and rock salts. One value per salt is reported.
Key numbers
- Iodized salt (S4): copper 0.8, arsenic 0.02, cadmium 0.01, mercury 0.04, lead 0.2 mg/kg (Table 3, p. 6).
- Hyposodic iodized salt (S5): arsenic 0.01, cadmium 0.01, mercury 0.02, lead 0.5 mg/kg (Table 3, p. 6).
- Lead ranged 0.2 to 0.6 mg/kg across all salts, highest in the Breton sea salt (Table 3, p. 6).
- Italian thresholds quoted: copper 2.0, arsenic 0.5, cadmium 0.5, mercury 0.1, lead 2.0 mg/kg (Table 3).
Methods (brief)
About 0.1 g of salt was dissolved with 0.5 mL ultrapure nitric acid in 50 mL water and run on a Thermo iCAP Qc ICP-MS in KED mode. No LOD, replicate data or certified reference material is reported for the metal analysis.
Evidence Fitness
One sample per salt type and no QA for the metal results, so the values are indicative only. The iodized and hyposodic iodized salts are direct measurements for the iodized-salt page (n=1 each). The radiological results are not metal data.