engleski

Trace elements, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, mineral composition, and FT-IR characterization of unrefined sea and rock salts: environmental interactions.

Unrefined sea salt originates from seawater, typically by natural evaporation. Being minimally processed, it contains the natural minerals and impurities of seawater. Despite the wide applications of salt for culinary and food preservation purposes, the available composition data is particularly limited. Aiming to fill the gap, 24 samples of unrefined sea and rock salts retailed in Greece were studied in terms of their trace metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) content, which constitute the usual pollutants examined in seawater. In addition, samples color and mineralogy were recorded and their attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR FT-IR) spectra were obtained. No statistically significant differences were found between sea and rock salts regarding their trace metal (Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Zn) content (excluding V) and the 15 PAHs examined. ATR FT-IR succeeded to discriminate among sea, rock, flower and underground salty water salts. Compared to the typical trace metals concentrations in seawater, quite high Pb values were determined in both sea and rock salts, whereas outliers in the rest of the trace elements examined were scarce. Median values of the sum of PAHs (ΣPAHs) concentrations were calculated equal to 2.1 and 2.6 ng g-1 for sea and rock salts, respectively. Environmental interactions of salt production with trace elements and PAHs is also discussed.

Unrefined salt ; Sea salt ; Rock salt ; Trace metals ; PAHs ; ATR FT-IR

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