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Background. Nowadays, researchers are alarming that our everyday food products may be contaminated with plastics during the processing and packaging process. Plastic polymers and harmful chemical additives, such as plasticizers, dyes or modifiers, may enter our body along with food in the form of microplastic particles and cause harm to human health. Risk assessment of microplastics in food products is still at an early stage due to the heterogeneity of research and methodology. Material and methods. The present study analyzed the abrasion of plastic particles from several different Himalayan salt and black pepper grinders with burrs made of polymers using FT-IR and SEM techniques. Results. The study confirms the effect of the polymers used on the amount of microplastic released as well as the rate of wear of the grinder burrs from the ground spice. Conclusions. However, determining the impact of using such devices on human health requires further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Atmospheric Water Generator (AWG) is a machine that could save the Earth from running out of fresh water in the future. This machine extracts clean water from humid air using power source to decrease the air temperature to its dew point. Consequently, the water vapor will be condensed and collected. The collected water has to be treated to satisfy the standards of drinking water. In this paper, the water treatment is configured using different processes. The verification is achieved via simulation for mineral treatment process. While the validation is performed by experimental work for other processes. The results affirmed that the generated water is potable and satisfy the market needs according to the Egyptian standards. These results are also consistent with World Health Organization standards (WHO). In this research we have tried several methods for purification including manual mineral addition and using mineral filters, not only that but also disinfection of water has been achieved using ultraviolet.

Himalayan rock salt contains a variety of minerals and trace elements, which is conducive to human health. The solutions of black rock salt and rose salt are alkaline, and the content of water insoluble matter is 0.34 and 0.083%, respectively. The element composition of water insoluble matter in rock salt is determined and analyzed. It is found that the main component of two kinds of rock salt water insoluble matter is soil. Due to the presence of water insoluble matter in rock salt, according to the different specific gravity of molten sodium chloride and insoluble matter, rock salt was purified by high-temperature melting method. Rose salt is mainly studied during purification. The results showed that the content of insoluble matter in rose salt decreased from 0.083 to 0.0024% after holding at 950°C for 40 min; the contents of arsenic, barium, and lead decreased to 0.0032, 0.61, and 0.21 mg·kg−1, respectively; the content of sodium increased to 39.24%, the contents of calcium, magnesium, and iron reached to 2,200, 855, and 1.31 mg·kg−1, respectively.

Introduction Salt is an essential component of the Indian diet. Edible salt contains fluoride, and its concentration varies depending on the source and manufacturing process. This study aimed to assess the fluoride concentration of commonly available varieties of edible salts in India. Methodology This in vitro study was conducted with four different types of edible salts viz. iodized salt, rock salt, pink salt, and black salt. Two brands of each salt available in the market were procured. Fluoride estimation was conducted using the sodium 2-(parasulphophenylazo-)- 1,8-dihydroxy-3,6-naphthalene disulphonate (SPADNS) method using Fluoride High-Range Checker® HC (Hanna Equipments India Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, India) with HI739-26 reagent. The reaction between fluoride and the reagent forms a colorless complex in the sample. The concentration is then determined from the color produced, measured in parts per million (ppm). Results Iodized salt showed the least fluoride content (12.5 ± 7.5 ppm), while it was highest for black salt (77.5 ± 19.9 ppm). There was a statistically significant difference between the study groups (p=0.009). Rock salt also showed high amounts of fluoride (40.8 ± 52.4 ppm). Conclusion Fluoride content in different types of edible salt varied, though well within the prescribed limits. This calls for nutritional labelling of fluoride to help the consumer make informed choices., Competing Interests: Human subjects: All authors have confirmed that this study did not involve human participants or tissue. Animal subjects: All authors have confirmed that this study did not involve animal subjects or tissue. Conflicts of interest: In compliance with the ICMJE uniform disclosure form, all authors declare the following: Payment/services info: All authors have declared that no financial support was received from any organization for the submitted work. Financial relationships: All authors have declared that they have no financial relationships at present or within the previous three years with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work. Other relationships: All authors have declared that there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work., (Copyright © 2024, Pai et al.)

Background: In recent times, noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) have attained epidemic status in India and several other countries. Globally, each year, NCDs cause premature deaths of nearly 40 million people younger than 60 years accounting for 70% of all deaths; 80% of these premature deaths are reportedly in the low- and middle-income countries. Many studies have reported increasing prevalence of NCDs such as type 2 diabetes, coronary and pulmonary diseases, and cancer. Incidentally, all these studies besides discussing environmental pollution have grossly ignored dietary profiling of affected populace despite the fact that several studies have established a direct correlation between food quality and good health. Objective: Besides pollutants, an attempt is made to analyze mathematically effects of dietary changes over the last four decades on constantly increasing prevalence of NCDs at cellular level. A relationship seems to exist between increasing prevalence of NCD and large-scale consumption of synthetic salt. Conclusions: Elimination of essential trace elements and micro- and macro-minerals in regular diet through synthetic salt fortified with iodine alone appears to cause more harm than benefits associated with iodization of salt than pollutants. Regular intake of essential trace elements is necessary for normal functioning of many fundamental functions of the body such as Na-K pump, electron–proton transport, biochemistry, and thermodynamics. An attempt has been made to study effects of salt constituents used in food at the most fundamental cellular level by means of disturbances in body electrolyte through heat and ion transport mechanism that is fundamental to various underlying processes in human body. Interestingly, almost all the families who switched over to unprocessed rock salt from synthetic iodized salt reported improvement in general health and reported reduction in medical visits.

Present study involves the chemical evaluation of rock salt samples collected from the plugging sites of Himalayan salt (Khewra salt mines and Kalabagh salt mines) for their moisture content, water insoluble matter, calcium, magnesium, sulphate content and trace minerals such as Fe, Cu, Cd, Pb, As, Ag and Zn determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy. Moisture content of Khewra and Kalabagh salt samples ranged from 0.03 wt. % to 0.09 wt. % and 0.06 % to 0.08 %, respectively. Water insoluble matter ranged from 0.08 wt. % to 1.4 wt. % and 1.5 wt. % to 2.8wt. % for Khewra and Kalabagh salt samples, respectively. Sulphate content for Khewra salt sample was from 0.39 % to 0.91 % and for Kalabagh salt mines from 0.75 wt. % to 0.95wt. %. For Khewra salt mines calcium ranged 0.15wt. % to 0.32wt. % and for Kalabagh salt samples from 0.1 wt. % to 0.27wt. %. Magnesium ranged from 0.11 wt. % to 0.35wt. % for Khewra salt mines, while for Kalabagh salt samples its range was 0.18wt. % to 0.89wt. %. Trace metals had the concentration ranges between 0.2 to 1.85 mg/kg for copper; between 0.21 to 0.42 mg/kg for manganese; between 0.04 to 0.06 mg/kg for zinc; between 0.12 to 0.18 mg/kg for arsenic and between 0.03 and 0.05 mg/kg for lead while cadmium content was either below the method's detection limits or in very trace amounts. The results show that the concentrations of all the parameters studied are below the limits set by World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Therefore, it can be concluded from the paper that the Himalayan salt from the plugging sites of Khewra and Kalabagh salt mines are safe to use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cooking salt is one of the most diffused food commodities, with high relevance both for flavour exaltation and food preservation. In commerce are present peculiar cooking salts with a high commercial value due to their colour and organoleptic characteristics, which are subjected to fraud and adulteration. The elemental composition of different cooking salts from different geographical origins was investigated with instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA), as a calibrated and validated multi-element technique, suitable for the accurate determination of trace concentration of most natural elements. The elemental fingerprint differences between samples were explored by principal component analysis (PCA), which was expanded with a simple data augmentation method called " Data explosion " with the scope of propagating the uncertainty budget associated with the raw data in the PCA model, using a Monte Carlo simulation. The PCA models with and without considering the uncertainty of measurement were compared using common figures of merit, attesting that, in the absence of the uncertainty regions associated with the scores, erroneous conclusion about sample similarities and differences could be drawn. [Display omitted] • Elemental composition of different cooking salts is compared. • Uncertainty of input data is propagated into PCA model by parametric bootstrapping. • Monte Carlo simulation is used to propagate measurement uncertainty in PCA. • PCA with and without measurement uncertainty is compared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sodium is essential for the production of meat derivatives. However, the relationship between sodium and health problems has driven the meat industry to seek alternatives to reducing sodium in its products. Alternative salts with lower sodium contents have been used for this purpose. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of using four different types of salt (100% NaCl, T1; 100% Himalayan salt, T2; 50% NaCl + 50% KCl, T3 or 50% NaCl + 25% KCl + 20% MgCl 2 + 5% CaCl 2 , T4) on physicochemical, textural, microbiological and sensory characteristics of frozen goat sausage. Sodium content was lower (17.6%) in T3 and T4 (P < 0.01). There was no treatment effect and no interaction between treatments and storage time (1, 30, 60 and 90 days) for instrumental color, pH and lipid oxidation (P > 0.05). Lower cooking loss (P < 0.05) was found in T2. There was no treatment effect (P > 0.05) on water activity, water holding capacity and sensory analysis. The reduction of sodium by replacing NaCl with chloride salts at the studied levels had no negative influence on the physicochemical, microbiological and sensory characteristics of frozen goat sausage. • NaCl was replaced by other chloride salts and Himalayan salt in goat sausage. • Replacing NaCl with chloride salts reduced sodium content by 17.6%. • Sensory and microbiological characteristics were not negatively affected. • Himalayan salt did not reduce the sodium content of goat sausage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on several health properties of Himalayan sea salt such as removing pathogens, removing immune system oversensitivity; and is helpful in dealing with stress, depression, anxiety, allergies and asthma.