Yellow Prussiate of Soda

[Guest guest]

I was looking at my friend's new salt from Morton's which said " Sea

Salt "

It said it came from a relatively toxic free area near or by Spain and

I saw that it still poured when it rained because it said it contained

Sodium Fferrocyanate as an anti caking agent.

Is this a thing to be concerned about?

Re: Where does Yellow Prussiate of Soda(Sodium Ferrocyanate) come from?

The simple answer is no.

I am not a chemist by training, but this is what I have learned about

yellow

prussiate of soda. It is added to rock salt and foods to prevent

caking.

Kosher salt typically has yellow prussiate added to it. I contacted the

folks at Morton Salt and they said that yellow prussiate does not

naturally

occur in salt deposits. I have found no evidence that it occurs

naturally

in halites or that this has been identified as any kind of environmental

threat.

Sodium ferrocyanide becomes toxic because hydrogen cyanide gas is

released

by the addition of hot or concentrated acids. Exposure to sunlight for

any

length of time will also release the toxic hydrogen cyanide gas. Waste

ferrocyanides in streams and lakes should not exceed 2 ppm because

irradiated solutions become toxic to fish (Burdick and Lipscheutz C.A.

44:10939f (1950)). The bond between iron and the cyanide moeity is

strong,

giving ferrocyanides only a low order of toxicity. When ferrocyanides

are

added to slightly acidic waters with iron salts present, Prussian blue

(ferric ferrocyanide) will form.

That's about all I can tell you.

Cheers,

Mark.

Moderator's note: Here is another link from a chemical manufacturer

that gives

you some more information about yellow prussiate.

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