Dear Listers:
Thank you very much John for your clarification on the exaggerated addition
profile on YPS from a well intended response from an earlier source. If the
allowable use for iron complexed cyanide was 0.1% we would have a serious
problem with our food supply. My concerns are not with currant regulations
but with a potential hazard. CFR recognizes many additives that fall into the
category of being useful for many years but in the light of new evaluation
techniques prove to be toxic. YPS has been around for a century in food but
simple scrutiny leads me to believe that David may have stumbled across
something here and my questions still remain the same.
If we recognize the fact that COMPLEXED iron cyanide can be effected by sun
light, weak acids, ammonia, and temperature fluctuations what precautions can
we take to prevent this from creating a problem on brine treated smoked fish?
Should we package the product in card board boxes and then take other GMP
steps to prevent the generation of free cyanide? Im concerned with not only
the safety issues but with being told several years down the path that my
group had participated in a practice that should have been never allowed in
the first place.
In my one week of readings on the subject of YPS I have found that the Salt
Institute's Home page is very useful in understanding the precautions their
industry recognizes. Road salt for instance is treated with 100 PPM YPS as
an anti cake and my initial study indicates that this industry goes to great
lengths to caution their members to keep their treated salt away from
sunlight to prevent the generation of free cyanide. The tobacco industry has
used ammonia and YPS for more than 70 years on cigarettes and their industry
advisers recommend that cigarettes be wrapped tightly in aluminum foil
wrappers to prevent sunlight from effecting this additive.
Since David's letter I have started to read about cyanide usage and each day
I become more concerned. Like most people I always thought salt was just salt
but it really isn't that simple. (CFR still allows aluminum silicon dioxide
as an anti cake in salt)
I would really appreciate more feed back on this question especially if
someone has information on compatibility studies involving YPS coming in
contact with ammonia and weak acids. How is YPS absorbed in blood and muscle
tissues of treated fish? Are there heavy metal interactions on brined fish
using even small concentrations of YPS found in food grade salt? If hydrogen
cyanide is generated by sunlight breaking the iron bonds in YPS what kind of
volumes of this gas are we going to have to anticipate? If free cyanide is
indeed compounded in brined fish by sun light or other chemical mechanics
what effect do these free cyanides have on human tissues when they are stored
and recycled by vital organs? It would be very helpful to have responses
other than telling us that there is cyanide in almond extract as an assurance
for cyanide safety issues in processed foods.
David's simple question has caused me to question what has always been
understood as a common practice in processing fish. I fully understand the
CFR in this area but the more I read the wider the gap is becoming between
what is recognized as safe and what common sense and some old fashioned
chemistry is showing may not be safe at all.
Sincerely,
Marion Dewitty
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