Stop
consuming poisonous salt, activist urges people
Indore, August, 2019: Shiv Shankar Gupta, activist and Chairman
of Godhum Grains and Farms who recently took up the issue of toxic contents in
premium salt brands sold in India, has urged the people to undergo regular
health checkups in order to gauge the adverse effects of regularly using iodized
salt of premium brands which contain poisonous substances such as potassium
ferrocyanide.
“TATA
Salt recently confessed that they are using potassium ferrocyanide within the
permissible limit. What is the limit? Do they ever reveal? Why don’t they say
potassium ferrocyanide on their packet? Why they use E536, the European standard
number for food additive in India, which is tough for a common man to
understand?” he asked.
“People
should not use salt that contains potassium ferrocyanide, as it is poison even
if the companies claim that the amount is within the permissible limit,” he
said, adding that the same drug component has been prohibited in the US and the
UK, making the TATA Salt’s claimmischievous.
“However,it
is quiet unfortunate to see that Indians have been fed with poison by major
companies like Tatawhose salt brand has been ruling the market for the last
twenty years,” said Gupta, who has been on a mission to get salt rid of all poisonous substances.
However,
it has a flipside. Recent researches have revealed that the continuous usage of
premium brands of salt such as TATA Salt and Nirma Labs have an adverse impact
on health. It was found that people using regular iodized salt with potassium
ferrocyanide are more at the risk of high blood pleasure, leading to various
kinds of life-threatening diseases, said Gupta, who is
also known as father of the Indian gemstone industry.
He
alleged that regulatory boards have been compromised, as they allowed the
corporate behemoths to sell vacuum salt or processed as edible salt. This is
not salt at all and is much inferior to the natural salt, he added.
“We
are already blessed with the deposit of best salt in the world, which worth more
than five billion dollar. You cannot get better salt than the one in Sambhar
Lake, which is being destroyed by the big corporate houses in collusion with salt
authorities over the years and it is sold as industrial salt.Other salt from
Kutch and from other coastal areas of India comes with more than 80 plus
minerals are far more superior to what we have right now in the form of refined
salt in the market. Despite having such a national treasure, we are being fed
with industrial residue. Why? Salt Commissioner,FSSAI and Ministry of Food and
Agriculture should answer this question.”
“The
food regulator fixed such low standards for edible salt to be sold in the
country. In India, if any powder/granule contains sodium and chloride it can be
passed off as edible salt. Accordingly, FSSAI turned a blind eye to vacuum salt
being sold in the country, despite its adverse health effects,” he said.
By
not regulating properly, the Salt Commissioner has ensured that Indians are fed
vacuum salt, which is very harmful, said Gupta adding that no doctors on earth
can certify that potassium ferrocyanide is good for health.
“Salt
manufacturing companies like Tata Chemicals and Nirma Labs started producing
salt for industrial use in a big way. The residue of chemical process is known
as industrial waste. As per rules for disposing industrial waste, the residues
have to be sent back to the deep sea. However, these industrial salt
manufacturers, in connivance with the Salt Department, declared that the
residue actually contains sodium chloride, which is salt meant for human
consumption as per the revised standards fixed for quality of common salt in
India,” he explained.
