Determination of Essential Elements and Heavy Metals Contained in Table Salt

Abstract

Salt is the oldest known food additive and still remains an essential requirement of any household contributing its own basic salty taste. This paper treats the different types of salt; industrial salt, table salt and refined salt. Table salt accounts for only a small part of the salt production in industrialized countries although worldwide food uses account for 17.5% of salt production the majority of the salt produced is sold for industrial use. Different types of salt have different minerals , giving each one its unique flavor. Standards are given by Standard organization of Nigeria(SON) for elements and micronutrients which are expected to be contained in salt. In order to determine the contents of table salt, six samples of salt were collected from the markets in the metropolis. Two foreign salts - Best in table salt and Anmol salt were collected with four local salts- Royal salt, Mr. Chef, Annappurna and Dangote salt. The values obtained for all the analyzed samples were found to be slightly higher the SON specification for water insoluble matter. The result showed the presence of higher insoluble matter in the samples. This could be attributed to packaging and exposure. Proper care was not taken to prevent even dust from settling on the samples. Other insoluble matters could be from sand particles from equipments during production.

Keywords: Salt, Analysis, Table salt, Standard organization of Nigeria, Samples