A survey on sales characteristics and salt iodine content in urban and rural salt market of Guizhou Province / 中华地方病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To understand the sales characteristics and salt iodine content in urban and rural salt market of Guizhou Province.Methods:In accordance with the "Guizhou Province 2020 Iodine Deficiency Disorders Monitoring Field Technical Guidance Work Program", 14 counties (cities, districts) from 88 counties (cities, districts) of 9 cities (states) in Guizhou Province were selected in August 2020. Each county (city, district) selected the urban area and a representative township, and at least 2 supermarkets were selected from the urban area, and 5 supermarkets or retail stores from the townships as the investigation sites, to collect the label information of all commercially available salt within the scope of investigation. At the same time, salt samples were collected after excluding the same brand, variety, and specification, and salt iodine was detected by redox titration.Results:A total of 107 labels of commercially available salt were collected, involving 21 brands, of which Biyuan brand had the largest number (53 samples, 49.5%) and the widest sales range, involving 12 counties (cities, districts). Salt producing areas came from 13 provinces, and the salt produced in Sichuan Province was the most widely distributed in the surveyed area (36 samples), followed by Chongqing Municipality (17 samples) and Hubei Province (16 samples). There were 19 brands (75 samples) and 7 brands (32 samples) of salt sold in urban and rural areas, respectively, and the main brand was Biyuan, accounting for 38.7% (29/75) and 75.0% (24/32), respectively. There were 8 brands (27 samples) and 16 brands (80 samples) of salt sold in retail stores and supermarkets, respectively, and the main brand was Biyuan, accounting for 66.7% (18/27) and 43.8% (35/80), respectively. Among 107 salt samples, it was found that the labeled iodine content did not meet the Guizhou Province salt iodization implementation standard (21 - 39 mg/kg), and only 39 samples (36.4%) had electronic anti-counterfeiting traceability codes on their labels. After excluding the same brand, variety, and specification, the median salt iodine of the 51 salt samples was 23.6 mg/kg, ranging from 19.2 to 38.1 mg/kg, and 21 - 39 mg/kg accounted for 96.1% (49/51).Conclusions:There are many salt brands sold in urban and rural areas in Guizhou Province, and the electronic traceability platform needs to be improved. Salt iodine is mainly distributed in the low-value area of the standard range, which brings potential risks to the sustainable and effective prevention and control of iodine deficiency disorders.