Teach you how to easily distinguish between industrial salt and table salt

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As is well known, people cannot do without salt even for a single day. It is precisely because of salt’s importance that many unscrupulous merchants turn to producing fake salt. A healthy adult should consume 2,000 to 2,500 mg of table salt per day, yet the news often reports cases of poisoning caused by accidental ingestion of industrial salt. So what exactly are the differences between industrial salt and table salt? Salts are a highly complex group, rather than a single substance; they come in many varieties, have different properties and appearances, and serve a wide range of purposes. The salt referred to in our daily lives is that which is extracted through processing from seawater, salt pans, salt wells, and salt mines; hence there are types such as sea salt, pan salt, well salt, and rock salt, and the types used vary from place to place. The main component of industrial salt and table salt is the same: sodium chloride (NaCl). The difference lies in the fact that industrial salt may contain impurity compounds, which can cause poisoning if they enter the human body. 1. Check the packaging and verify the anti-counterfeiting features. When buying salt, check the packaging first. Usually, salt packaging bags are thick, of fine texture, with clear printing, and each bag is numbered. The packaging of fake salt is brittle and thin, and in many cases, the serial numbers are the same as well. Additionally, table salt comes with anti-counterfeiting marks, and the location of these marks is fixed; when buying salt, it’s a good idea to get several bags so you can compare them. Some fake table salt products may also include anti-counterfeiting marks of their own, but it is not guaranteed that all such marks will be placed in the same location. II. Squeeze it. This method is suitable for distinguishing between industrial salt and table salt. Industrial salt contains many impurities, some of which are absorbent; when pressed together, they easily clump together. High-quality table salt contains very little moisture; it is like fine sand, and will not clump together unless the hands are wet. III. Examine the texture and identify the color. Table salt is very white and pure, free of impurities; high-quality salt is transparent or translucent. Fake table salt contains many impurities, and its color is not as white as that of real table salt. If you find that the salt in your hands is grayish or dull in color, or has a yellow-brown tint, it’s best not to buy it. IV. Try it with potatoes. Fake salt sellers generally do not add iodine to the salt. To find out whether the salt you bought contains iodine, all you need to do is conduct a small experiment. Cut a small piece of potato and sprinkle some salt on it. If the potato turns blue, it means the salt contains iodine; if it does not change color, then the salt does not contain iodine (since potatoes contain starch, and starch turns blue when it comes into contact with iodine). V. Taste it. The taste of real table salt is pure; fake salt either has a bitter taste along with saltiness or a astringent taste along with saltiness. Due to the high content of impurities, fake table salt can sometimes have an unpleasant taste.