Sea Salt and Himalayan Salt Tested for Heavy Metals Like Lead and Microplastics — Guide

What are the degrees of heavy metals and microplastics discovered inside your favourite sea salt and Himalayan salt merchandise? This was the query Mamavation neighborhood members requested us and we did not know the reply, so we despatched 23 well-liked salt merchandise off to an EPA-certified laboratory to search out out.

Do you need to know the way excessive the degrees of heavy metals and microplastics are in your favourite sea salt or Himalayan salt?

You’ve got trusted Mamavation to deliver you subjects just like the most secure butter with out poisonous PFAS packaging, the most secure cookware sans PFAS and nanoparticles, and most secure water purifiers to filter PFAS “endlessly chemical compounds,” now be a part of us for the outcomes of 23 salt merchandise despatched to the lab testing for metals aluminum and arsenic, and heavy metals cadmium, mercury, and lead and microplastics.

Disclosure: Scientific opinions had been carried out by (1) Terrence Collins, Teresa Heinz Professor of Inexperienced Chemistry and Director of the Institute for Inexperienced Sciences at Carnegie Mellon College and (2) Pete Myers, Chief Scientist at Environmental Well being Sciences, Adjunct Professor of Chemistry at Carnegie Mellon College, and co-author of Our Stolen Future.

This put up was medically reviewed by Sondra Strand, RN, BSN, PHN. Donations had been offered by Mamavation neighborhood members. Notice that Mamavation has solely “spot-checked” the trade and thus we can’t make predictions about manufacturers and merchandise that weren’t examined in our EPA-certified laboratory.

Merchandise and manufacturing aides can change with out discover so purchaser beware. This put up incorporates affiliate hyperlinks, with most to Amazon, which suggests Mamavation will obtain a portion of these gross sales and we’ll use that to pay ourselves again for the testing. You can even give a tax-deductible donation to our shopper research right here by way of Environmental Well being Sciences. Thanks!

Aluminum, Arsenic, Cadmium and Lead Present in Salt Manufacturers

Based on the American Coronary heart Affiliation, the common American consumes about 3,400 milligrams per day of salt, whereas the dietary tips recommends we eat lower than 2,300 milligrams (mg) of sodium every day. Individuals are getting most of their sodium from processed meals, and due to this fact, in case you are cooking and consuming your meals from residence in your individual kitchen, you may enormously scale back these ranges.

It is claimed that “consuming much less sodium can scale back your threat for hypertension, fluid retention, coronary heart illness, stroke, kidney points, osteoporosis and most cancers.” Because of this we extremely advocate you cook dinner most of your meals from scratch with components which are minimally processed.

However what in regards to the high quality of salt you’re utilizing? Some metals which are identified or suspected toxicants and microplastics are already identified to be inside salt however at what ranges? That is the query we tried to reply to assist our viewers decrease their sodium consumption whereas additionally decreasing their consumption of heavy metals and microplastics.

Mamavation despatched 23 salt merchandise off to an EPA-certified laboratory to check for aluminum, arsenic, and heavy metals cadmium, mercury and lead and microplastics. The excellent news isn’t any salt product got here again with the equal ranges that might require a Prop. 65 warning based mostly on serving measurement per day. As well as, no salt product had excessive sufficient microplastics that may very well be conclusively acknowledged by way of FTIR testing.

The dangerous information was all salt merchandise had detectable quantities of the topic metals current. Mamavation has completed our greatest to share with you what our laboratory discovered in order that in case you are involved about clearly poisonous or probably poisonous metals inside your salt, you’ll make an informed choice when purchasing. Here is what we discovered:

The sunshine metallic, aluminum, was present in 78% of the salt merchandise — 35% of salt merchandise had over 100,000 ppb of aluminum.

Arsenic was present in 100% of salt merchandise — 74% of salt merchandise had over 10 ppb of arsenic.

Cadmium was present in 70% of salt merchandise — 4% of salt merchandise had over 4.1 ppb of cadmium.

Mercury was NOT present in any salt merchandise.

Lead was present in 96% of salt merchandise.

Microplastics had been so minute they might not be conclusively detected and acknowledged by way of Fourier Reworked Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopic imaging for any pattern.

[Update: 3 additional salt products were added to this investigation from popular demand on 2/13/24 and the above percentages were not adjusted.]

Aluminum in Meals and Requirements Set in Europe

Aluminum can come from pure sources because it makes up 8% of the earth’s mass. The Meals and Drug Administration (FDA) considers aluminum used as an oblique additive in meals “typically considered protected.” Thus aluminum compounds are utilized in some ways in American meals manufacturing as preservatives, as coloration dyes, anti-caking brokers, or for leavening breads with out lively yeast.

It is attainable aluminum may very well be discovering its means into salt in varied ranges as an anti-caking agent, which might assist stop it from clumping. Nevertheless, not all of those merchandise disclosed the usage of aluminum as a meals additive in the event that they had been utilizing it.

The quantity of aluminum from oblique meals components varies from individual to individual based mostly on what you’re consuming, nonetheless, it is assumed to be wherever from 0 to 95 milligrams per day for Individuals. The US doesn’t have any requirements for aluminum in meals that we might discover. We might, nonetheless, discover tolerable weekly intakes from the European Meals Security Authority (EFSA) and the World Well being Group (WHO) based mostly on the precautionary precept.

• Based mostly on the mixed proof from a number of research, EFSA has beneficial a tolerable weekly consumption (TWI) of 1 mg aluminum/kg physique weight/week. Thus utilizing EFSA’s estimate, an individual weighing 150 lbs. can tolerate as much as the equal of 68 mg of aluminum per week.
• Extra just lately, in 2011, the Joint FAO/WHO Professional Committee on Meals Components (JECFA) reviewed scientific proof which elevated their confidence within the threat evaluation, and thus WHO specialists established an elevated Provisional Tolerable Weekly Consumption (PTWI) of two mg/kg physique weight. This implies, in line with the WHO, somebody who weighs 150 lbs. might safely 136 mg per week.

Since you are additionally getting aluminum inside different meals like baked items with flour, beans, condiments, cereals, cheese sauces, root greens, and sure seafood, it might be attainable, particularly for folks with dangerous kidneys, that you might be consuming greater than a protected advice.

In reflection of the Precautionary Precept, we have examined salt for aluminum for you as nicely that can assist you make these choices your self on the place you want to your dietary aluminum to come back from.

How Do Heavy Metals Discover Themselves in Salt?

So how do heavy metals (aluminum, arsenic, cadmium, mercury and lead) discover their means into salt? Formally, we’re not sure model by model, however listed below are some theories based mostly on how different meals merchandise are contaminated:

Naturally occurring — Heavy metals are naturally current within the soil in numerous concentrations based mostly on the geology of the land. As an illustration, extra cadmium is present in sure soils in South America and fewer in sure African soils. This can be why we persistently discovered greater heavy metals in Himalayan salts vs. most sea salts as a result of Himalayan salt is dug out of the bottom largely in Pakistan, which can also be identified to have greater ranges of Cadmium within the soil. Nevertheless, it’s to be remembered that Himalayan sea salt is believed to have been laid down within the Permian Epoch greater than 250 million years in the past so the metallic content material displays that really historical setting.

Legacy pesticide use — For a lot of a long time, heavy metals had been added to pesticides as an adjuvants, or had been key parts of pesticide toxicity resembling with lead arsenate used as a pesticide in orchards and might nonetheless be present in soils with a historical past of sure pesticide use. Thus, runoff from farm use might discover its means into sea salt.

Manufacturing contamination — Heavy metals might be discovered in lots of manufacturing conditions, for instance, as gear is used mud from abrasion can contaminate meals and private care merchandise that means. When salt is processed, the manufacturing gear itself might pose a contamination threat.

Storage — In locations the place heavy metals are current within the soil, storing and drying sure salts outdoors can current a contamination threat. Darkish chocolate is thought to be contaminated this fashion.

Air air pollution — Heavy metals can begin as air air pollution from manufacturing byproducts from polluted industrial areas and might discover their means into different components of the world by way of the wind and thru our bodies of water. For instance, mercury initially present in coal is launched into the air when coal is burned. Downwind it falls to the earth and is transformed to methyl mercury, which strikes up the meals chain contaminating fish, together with tuna. We had been joyful to see that mercury was non-detect for all samples of salt.

Meals components — Some meals components may very well be contaminated with heavy metals, or as within the case with aluminum, might itself be a meals additive.

Investigation of Salts for Heavy Metals and Uncooked Information

To recap, Mamavation despatched 23 salt merchandise to an EPA-certified lab testing for aluminum, arsenic, cadmium, mercury and lead. 100% of salt merchandise had detectable quantities of heavy metals and people ranges and varieties of heavy metals different. Here is a few notes to think about earlier than studying the uncooked information:

• The laboratory additionally regarded for microplastics by utilizing Fourier Reworked Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopic imaging. Microplastics had been discovered, however they weren’t in excessive sufficient ranges for the check to conclusively acknowledge what sort of microplastics they had been
• Elements per billion is ppb and components per million is ppm
• 1 ppm = 1,000 ppb
• MRL means Most Residue Ranges which meant that the lab might detect some metals, but it surely was so low they might not measure the precise quantity

We divided the 23 salt merchandise into 3 classes in line with contamination ranges. These ranges replicate the general ranges of heavy metallic contamination in every product however don’t comply with particular authorities suggestions.

[Update: 3 additional salt products were added to this investigation on 2/13/24 and are marked with a ** in the “not our favorite” category.]

	Al in ppm	As in ppb	Cd in ppb	Hg in ppb	Pb in ppb
Artisan Salt Firm Historic Ocean Himalayan Pink Salt	130.514	40.5	0.74	ND	96.834
Manischewitz Pure Kosher Salt	29.955	12.536	ND	ND	140.572
McCormick Advantageous Floor Pink Himalayan Salt	167.270	44.637	< MRL	ND	92.564
Redmonds Actual Salt Historic Advantageous Sea Salt	229.071	36.14	7.3256	ND	252.246
San Francisco Salt Firm Sherpa Pink Himalayan Salt	251.824	39.43	1.1276	ND	132.984
Celtic Sea Salt Advantageous Floor	171.320	82.156	1.1927	ND	553.440
Shaun Himalayan Salt	173.534	42.006	1.7755	ND	106.704
The Spice Lab Himalayan Salt	242.750	46.063	1.0684	ND	170.570
Dealer Joes Himalayan Pink Salt Crystals	83.041	33.686	1.7928	ND	180.695
Wellsley Farms Kosher Himalayan Pink Salt	211.772	35.032	0.9818	ND	14.985
**Baja Gold Mineral Sea Salt Advantageous Grind	< MRL	< MRL	3.63	ND	337.79
**Colima Sea Salt	< MRL	< MRL	2.29	ND	16.55
**Essential 4 mMinerals (Polar White Sea Salt)	5.02	21.94	1.13	ND	7.41

	Al in ppm	As in ppb	Cd in ppb	Hg in ppb	Pb in ppb
Frontier Co-Op Advantageous Grind Pink Himalayan Salt	80.468	17.487	< MRL	ND	71.416
Seasonello Iodized Sea Salt	3.426	7.391	< MRL	ND	55.496
Terrasoul Superfoods Himalayan Pink Salt	16.377	24.141	0.620	ND	84.447
Watkins Advantageous Himalayan Pink Salt	76.864	19.102	0.752	ND	90.246
Vera Salt Pure Pure Spring Salt Microplastic Free	2.154	15.425	0.769	ND	45.627

	Al in ppm	As in ppb	Cd in ppb	Hg in ppb	Pb in ppb
David’s Kosher Salt	ND	10.839	< MRL	ND	3.561
Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt	ND	ND	< MRL	ND	ND
Hain Pure Meals Iodized Salt	< MRL	9.552	2.559	ND	3.702
Jacobsen’s Salt Firm Kosher Sea Salt	1.690	9.885	0.532	ND	< MRL
Maldon Sea Salt Flakes	ND	12.799	ND	ND	< MRL
Morton Iodized Salt	ND	< MRL	< MRL	ND	11.967
Saltverk Flaky Sea Salt	ND	15.273	ND	ND	6.571
Wellsley Farms Mediterranean Sea Salt	< MRL	7.602	< MRL	ND	14.985

In regards to the Writer

Leah Segedie is the President and Founding father of Mamavation.com. Mamavation produces award-winning content material and impartial shopper research inspecting the intersection of endocrine-disrupting chemical compounds (EDCs) and on a regular basis merchandise introduced into American households. She’s been referred to by many as “the true FDA.”

Since 2008, Mamavation has been serving to on a regular basis mothers navigate the grocery retailer by commissioning shopper research on meals, drinks, private care merchandise and different such merchandise and thus democratizing science and testing for everybody.