- By Jun Ozbert M. Haguisan, Ann Marie P. Alguidano and Isah Lou G. Nocal
ABSTRACT
Eating food contaminated with heavy metals could lead to poisoning, long term health problem and even death. One common substance needed for food preparation is salt. Salt can be mined as rock salt or harvested in the sea by evaporating the sea water. This study aimed to determine quantitatively the cadmium, manganese, lead and copper content of sea salt, sea water source and iodized salt. The sea salt and sea water samples were taken from four locations in Iloilo which have salt industry. Iodized salt samples were purchased locally from different grocery stores located in the city of Iloilo. The level of cadmium (Cd), manganese (Mn), lead (Pb) and copper (Cu) in sea salt were 4.1876 ± 0.3154, 3.1372 ± 0.4349, 0.6420 ± 0.1176 and 1.7281 ± 0.6040 mg/Kg respectively. In comparison, the levels of Cd, Mn, Pb and Cu in iodized salts were 1.7750 ± 0.2201, 0.2759 ± 0.0400, 0.0062 ± 0.0045 and 0.0636 ± 0.0057 mg/Kg respectively. The sea salt water levels of Cd, Mn, Pb and Cu were 0.8769 ± 0.3644, 0.3359 ± 0.1459, 0.0848 ± 0.0933 and 0.1916 ± 0.0688 mg/L respectively. Cd was significantly detected in both sea salt, sea water source and iodized salt. Manganese in sea salt and sea water source exceeded the allowable limits.