Adequacy Of Iodine Content And Level Of Contaminants In Edible Salts Produced In Ethiopia

Edible salt is the most commonly used food additive. Therefore, the quality of this importantrnproduct needs to be certain as it can be a vehicle for a number of contaminants. This study wasrnaimed to investigate the level of iodine, the content of sodium chloride, loss of mass, matterrninsoluble in water, sulphate, alkalinity, selected heavy metals and metal impurities, which arernexpected to be contained in edible salt. In order to determine the contents of table salt andrncommon salt were collected from eight producers and re-packers which are located at differentrnparts of the country. The levels of iodine were determined by iodotitration and metal impuritiesrnwere estimated using FAAS after wet digestion of the salts. The value of iodine obtained for allrnanalyzed samples were found to be within the range of 71.76 ± 8.09-4.24 ± 1.06 mg/kg in whichrn87.5 % of both common salts and table salts samples were lower than the Ethiopian Standardrn(ES) specification (60-80 ppm). The content of sodium chloride, Loss of mass, matterrninsolubility, sulphate, alkalinity and pH ranged between 96.13 ± 0.24-98.98.5 ± 0.29, 0.23 ±rn0.05-2.66,0.18 ± 0.00- 2.16 ± 0.38,0.13 ± 0.10-5.15 ± 0.37, 0.12 ± 0.074 - 0.95 ± 0.01,7.85 ±rn0.05-8.75 ± 0.02 respectively. The heavy metals Cadmium, Lead and Zinc content of the studiedrnTable salt and Common salt remained lower than the permitted maximum for humanrnconsumption as prescribed by ES specification and codex. However, calcium impurities found tornbe 0.26 ± 0.05, 0.35 ±0.00, 1.63± 0.02, 1.52 ± 0.02,0.61 ± 0.01,0.41 ± 0.11,1.56± 0.52, 0.42 ±rn0.02 which indicated that half of out of the four table salts samples meet the requirement set byrnthe ES. Magnesium content were found to be 1.96 ± 0.01, 2.60 ± 0.01, 4.17 ± 0.02, 3.83 ± 0.03,rn1.79 ± 0.01, 0.82 ± 0.01, 4.39 ± 0.09and 2.57 ± 0.03, respectively in which only two of the tworntable salts were below the ES. Iron content was ranged between 0.18 ± 0.00-0.56 ± 0.11, inrnwhich half values for iron in both common salts and table salts were lower than the permittedrnconsumption level defined by ES. In general, the salts delivered to the community are poor inrntheir iodine content the quality of both the common and table salts have to be improved throughrnimproving method of production and iodization as well. But, are safe with regard to their heavyrnmetals such as Cd, Pb, Zn and Cu.rnKey words: Salt; Iodine; Metal Contaminants; Sodium Chloride; Loss of Mass; Matter Insoluble; Sulphate, Alkalinity; Ethiopian Standard

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