Is the sea salt from the pacific ocean safe to consume

a reply to: Lagomorphe

I love your warmest at the end of your posts.

Maybe we could not be an all consuming and all wantin bigger better faster the of people.
Wind, solar, tidal power, organic, eat seasonally work together not apart kinda people.

Warmest to you coming from my most eco friendly burning firebox on nearly the shortest day.

Because I am à warm hearted person and it is bloody hot in my region of France right now at 11:24 in the morning... 31 degrees...

a reply to: Cloudbuster

I use bath salt.

Gotta nice kick.

But seriously, I like,

Fleur de sel isnt bad for sea salt lovers and good cooks (especially Gironde fleur de sel from here in France) but you still get the air contaminants in it.

Warmest

Lags

I have some cheap "sea salt" I use for pasta water.

The good stuff is expensive.

Never seen any japanese sea salt, tho.

Chinese stuff is cheap but...I'll pass.

No telling what's in it.

a reply to: rickymouse

Just a warning salt substitutes are radioactive they contain potassium chloride instead of sodium chloride. Sodium chloride is not radioactive and you couldn't make it be if you tried.

I would also recommend pink Himalayan salt.We keep both that and normal salt,i must admit i prefer the regular,it's to my taste more salty than the Himalayan,and im a person who likes my food well salted.Hubby will only use Himalayan.I'm South African so im not sure where our main brands of white salt come from but i reckon our own stretch of ocean.Although my country has started importing a lot of food from all over in recent years with the thousands of murdered farmers,it has grievously damaged our produce output.To be on the safe side if you're worried just use the Himalayan salt.

Our local health shop actually has a handwritten sign outside saying: "White salt will kill you!! Use Pink Himalayan!!"

Oh btw i forgot to mention,if it is available in Japan,the R.Vogel company,a homeopatic/healthfood supplier,makes a Delicious vegetable salt.Its really nice,maybe you can find it online if its not sold in Japan.

a reply to: Cloudbuster

I love it too,Lags,sounds charming

originally posted by: Raxoxane
Oh btw i forgot to mention,if it is available in Japan,the R.Vogel company,a homeopatic/healthfood supplier,makes a Delicious vegetable salt.Its really nice,maybe you can find it online if its not sold in Japan.

Thanks,　I'll check into it.

Many foods contain radioactive elements, bananas, brazil nuts, coffee, potatoes, kidney beans, etc. I am guessing the benefits of healthy eating far outweigh the small amount of radiactivity.

Most "white: salt, even those labelled Sea Salt have been chemically produced, iodised and have fluoride added. Buyer beware! There is a list on the internet somewhere which lists the bad ones. I used to buy Baleine Sea Salt, until I read that list. I switched sometime ago to Sel de Marin *as a previous poster noted, more expensive but oh so tasty) and have now switched to Himalaya. It may taste less salty but the trace elements and minerals should provide at least some health benefits over chemically modified mass produced junk. Just my 2 cents.

originally posted by: LightSpeedDriver
Many foods contain radioactive elements, bananas, brazil nuts, coffee, potatoes, kidney beans, etc. I am guessing the benefits of healthy eating far outweigh the small amount of radiactivity.

Most "white: salt, even those labelled Sea Salt have been chemically produced, iodised and have fluoride added. Buyer beware! There is a list on the internet somewhere which lists the bad ones. I used to buy Baleine Sea Salt, until I read that list. I switched sometime ago to Sel de Marin *as a previous poster noted, more expensive but oh so tasty) and have now switched to Himalaya. It may taste less salty but the trace elements and minerals should provide at least some health benefits over chemically modified mass produced junk. Just my 2 cents.

I think the truth about contaminated salt from Fukushima will be white washed to the point that "its safe" to eat.

An interesting question to be sure. I used to take iodine supplements in the form of kelp. I took it daily during Chernobyl, then again during Fukushima. After Fukushima I began considering this pretty hard and stopped taking kelp supplements for iodine.

I've been wondering what would be the harm of using halite salt mined here in Michigan as I would assume that salt from the ancient seas would be more less pollution free, but being buried underground for so long, other minerals and contaminates could be in ancient sea salt. It makes me wonder how it could be purified if it is contaminated. I would assume that the mined salt is a source of much of our table salt.

As far as iodine is concerned, few foods contain much of it and kelp is an excellent source, but as polluted as all the modern oceans are, radiation would be only a single concern regarding the potential health effects of ocean based food products.

a reply to: musicismagic

I can find at least one link to suppliers of Fukushima Sea Salt. Crikey!

I'll pass!

a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

I also stumbled across American Rock Salt and from what I read on their site (www.americanrocksalt.com) it did sound to be a good product, seemingly as good as Himalayan. As you mention, iodine is not found in many foods but apparently Cod, sea bass, haddock, and perch are good sources besides kelp. There is a place in England that had a natural water reserve that contained no iodine and the people suffered from what was locally called Derbyshire Neck. The neck used to swell in size to alarming levels. I think, as with most things a varied diet is probably the best defence and if your neck should start to swell, lots of cod and seaweed?

a reply to: Cloudbuster

Salt mining and coal mining use different processes. Salt is generally not "strip mined", which is the 'big holes' you're talking about. Salt is usually either mined using underground mining techniques, or it is mined next to a body of salt water where water is trapped in shallow evaporation ponds and then it is scooped up after the water evaporates. Underground salt mines are usually quite deep, and are some of the most stable mine structures of all causing virtually no damage to the environment. In fact, underground salt mines have numerous useful purposes once the salt has been extracted, long term storage is chief among these things. Controversially, expended underground salt mines are used to store depleted nuke fuel due to their longevity and stability.

Coal mining, on the other hand, is a whole other situation. Coal mines can also be underground mines, but these mines are usually shallow (in comparison) and not very stable at all. In fact, they are quite dangerous, and are prone to collapse over time leading to subsidence issues at the surface. The other mining process used for coal is called strip mining, and this is used for not only coal, but many other mined materials. These are the hugely destructive mines you refer to. Strip mining essentially removes the surface cover of rock and earth, then blasts the coal ore into rubble and loads it for further processing. These mines move entire mountains to access the ore, and in many places leave behind giant blights on the landscape which take centuries to 'heal', if they ever heal.

The bottom line is, you can be concerned about environmental damage from strip mining of many ores and products, but there's really no need to concern yourself with salt mining as it is far less destructive. Enough about mining, but here's some more on salt.

The formation of Halite crystals (salt) generally precludes many contaminants with one glaring exception, radioactive isotopes. There are some contaminants in salt, this is generally what gives it the different colors you hear about, but these are usually trace minerals and not toxic wastes. Oddly, one of the biggest contaminants in salt is plastic (and at a chemical level 'plastic' is some nasty stuff). The plastic is not actually included in the salt crystal structure itself, but present where the crystal structure is formed. Because of it's microscopic size it is very difficult to separate from the salt, and therefore usually isn't.

You mentioned you are from Japan. As I noted above, radioactive isotopes can easily be included in salt structure and consequently I too would be concerned about consuming salt originating from an area where some type of a nuclear incident has taken place (in the last 10,000 years....think, Fukishima). So, in closing, I would think your concerns are not unfounded when it comes to being concerned about consuming salt produced in adjacent regions. I too would be concerned. That said, I wouldn't avoid salt mined in other areas over concerns of environmental damage as a result of the mining process itself.

Hope this helps.

a reply to: rickymouse

Isn't it packaged?
Food has to say where it comes from.
Look on the package. Or is this sold from a bulk barrel or something?
I just finished a box of sea salt so I can't look to see where it comes from but it was Morton's Sea Salt.
This link talks about harvesting ponds near the San Francisco bay. I imagine the water comes from the Pacific.

www.thekitchn.com...

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Environmental damage from harvesting?

The water is evaporated by the wind and Sun.
What damage from harvesting?

They don't mine sea st they just take water and let it evaporate naturally.
The sun and wind do it. Even over the actual ocean.

You're not worried they're going to dry out the ocean or lessen the salt content are you?

And as to why the salt is in the oceans.

www.utdallas.edu...

a reply to: Sillyolme

Three words - "Re-read my post".

This was exactly my point!

Alternative to salt, I use Braggs Amino acid, alternative to soy sauce. It gets put on almost everyting I cook and enhances the flavor tremendously. It adds salt flavor with low sodium, tenderizes meats if allowed to soak in it. Yup, pink Himalayan salt for those few things I dont want Braggs in!!

originally posted by: dragonridr
a reply to: rickymouse

Just a warning salt substitutes are radioactive they contain potassium chloride instead of sodium chloride. Sodium chloride is not radioactive and you couldn't make it be if you tried.

I don't use potassium chloride salt substitutes. I eat a lot of potassium rich foods and I actually excrete sodium chloride quickly in my pee. So my potassium levels have historically been high. I can't eat cookies with cream of tarter in them, they taste like a can. I actually produce too much insulin, reactive hypoglycemia, and if I eat too much potassium foods it gets worse. I hate that spinny head feeling from a low sugar event.