Safety of Anti-caking Agents

[JoeHermits]

[Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are my own and in no way represent those of the Hermit Crab Association or its staff.]

Though I’ve seen less of it lately, in the past I’ve seen quite a few crabbers recommend avoiding some foods due to the presence of anti-caking agents. However, over the years I’ve seen no explanation as to why other than the age-old “chemicals are bad” argument so I decided to investigate it more thoroughly.

The following agents are listed in the Codex Alimentarius, an international collection of food standards, as safe for general use providing proper dosages and procedures. For easy reference they are listed in alphabetical order, but I will provide their alternate names, as well.

I am not a biochemist and am writing with a crabbing audience in mind so I will keep descriptions brief and to the point. Note that most safety studies are done on vertebrates such as dogs, rats, rabbits, and humans. There are very few, if any, studies done on invertebrates.

Note that companies are not required to list additives added by suppliers, so any sort of processed food containing flour, salt, or other materials vulnerable to caking may contain any of these ingredients.

Aluminum Silicate

Synonyms: kaolinite, willinite

Toxicity, carcinogenicity, bioaccumulation, or other health concerns: Limited toxicity and carcinogenicity data.

Already present in diet: No.

Notes: Can be artificially synthesized but occurs naturally in various mineral deposits. Name refers to a range of compounds derived from aluminum oxide and silicon dioxide.

Calcium Aluminosilicate

Synonyms: aluminum calcium silicate

Toxicity, carcinogenicity, bioaccumulation, or other health concerns: Limited toxicity data.

Already present in diet: No.

Notes: Can be artificially synthesized but exists naturally in feldspar deposits.

Calcium Ferrocyanide

Synonyms: hexacyanoferrate of calcium, yellow prussiate of lime

Toxicity, carcinogenicity, bioaccumulation, or other health concerns: Can produce gaseous hydrogen cyanide when exposed to acid, however the heat and acidity required for the reaction are not present in biological systems.

Already present in diet: No.

Notes: Does not occur naturally and must be artificially synthesized. Created by combining calcium carbonate, ferrous chloride, calcium hydroxide, and hydrogen cyanide, a naturally occurring substance found in spinach, nuts, legumes, fruit pits and cores, and other plant parts. The bonding of iron to the cyanide anions stabilizes the compound so it can neither bind to biological structures nor break down in the presence of gastric acids.

Calcium Silicate

Synonyms: belite, calcium hydrosilicate, calcium metasilicate, calcium monosilicate, calcium orthosilicate, calcium salt of silicic acid, dicalcium silicate, grammite, silene

Toxicity, carcinogenicity, bioaccumulation, or other health concerns: None.

Already present in diet: No.

Notes: Can be artificially synthesized but exists naturally in limestone and diatomaceous earth deposits.

Cellulose

Synonyms: cellulose powder, bleached wood pulp, microcrystalline cellulose, powder cellulose, wood pulp

Toxicity, carcinogenicity, bioaccumulation, or other health concerns: None.

Already present in diet: Yes.

Notes: Found naturally in many plants and some algae and bacteria. Common commercial sources include wood, cotton, and hemp.

Magnesium Stearate

Synonyms: magnesium distearate, magnesium octadecanoate, magnesium salt, magnesium salt octodecanoic acid, magnesium salt stearic acid, octodecanoic acid

Toxicity, carcinogenicity, bioaccumulation, or other health concerns: None.

Already present in diet: No.

Notes: Does not occur naturally and must be artificially synthesized. Creating by combining magnesium with stearic acid, a naturally occurring fatty acid found in animal and plant fats including beef, pork, coconut, and shea.

Magnesium Trisilicate

Synonyms: dimagnesium trisilicone octaoxide, magnesium silicone oxide

Toxicity, carcinogenicity, bioaccumulation, or other health concerns: None.

Already present in diet: No.

Notes: Does not occur naturally and must be artificially synthesized.

Potassium Aluminum Silicate

Synonyms: mica, microcline, muscovite

Toxicity, carcinogenicity, bioaccumulation, or other health concerns: None.

Already present in diet: No.

Notes: Harvested from naturally occurring microcline deposits.

Potassium Ferrocyanide

Synonyms: ferrate hexacyano tetrapotassium trihydrate, potassium hexacyanidoferrate(II), potassium hexacyanoferrate (II) trihydrate, prussiate of potash, tetrapotassium ferrocyanide trihydrate, yellow prussiate of potash

Toxicity, carcinogenicity, bioaccumulation, or other health concerns: Can produce gaseous hydrogen cyanide when exposed to acid, however the heat and acidity required for the reaction are not present in biological systems.

Already present in diet: No.

Notes: Does not occur naturally and must be artificially synthesized. Created by combining potassium carbonate, ferrous chloride, calcium hydroxide, and hydrogen cyanide, a naturally occurring substance found in spinach, nuts, legumes, fruit pits and cores, and other plant parts. The bonding of iron to the cyanide anions stabilizes the compound so it can neither bind to biological structures nor break down in the presence of gastric acids.

Silicon Dioxide

Synonyms: crystalline silica, pure silica, silica, silica sand, silicic oxide, silicon(IV) oxide, quartz

Toxicity, carcinogenicity, bioaccumulation, or other health concerns: None.

Already present in diet: Yes.

Notes: Most abundant compound in the planet’s crust. Can be artificially synthesized but exists naturally in sand, quartz, and diatomaceous earth deposits.

Sodium Aluminosilicate

Synonyms: aluminum silicon sodium oxide, aluminum sodium silicate, aluminosilicic acid, sasil, silic acid, sodium salt, sodium silicoaluminate

Toxicity, carcinogenicity, bioaccumulation, or other health concerns: None.

Already present in diet: No.

Notes: Does not exist in nature and must be artificially synthesized. Name refers to many different compounds comprised of sodium, aluminum, oxygen, and silicon.

Sodium Bicarbonate

Synonyms: baking soda, bicarbonate of soda, carbonic acid, carbonic acid monosodium salt, monosodium salt carbonic acid, nahcolite, soda bicarbonate, sodium hydrogen carbonate

Toxicity, carcinogenicity, bioaccumulation, or other health concerns: None.

Already present in diet: No.

Notes: Can be artificially synthesized but is found naturally in natron deposits.

Sodium Ferrocyanide

Synonyms: ferrocyanattrium, gelbnatron, sodium hexacyanoferrate, tetrasodium hexacyanoferrate, tetrasodium [hexacyanoferrate(II)], yellow prussiate of soda (YPS)

Toxicity, carcinogenicity, bioaccumulation, or other health concerns: Can produce gaseous hydrogen cyanide when exposed to acid, however the heat and acidity required for the reaction are not present in biological systems.

Already present in diet: No.

Notes: Does not occur naturally and must be artificially synthesized. Created by combining sodium carbonate, ferrous chloride, calcium hydroxide, and hydrogen cyanide, a naturally occurring substance found in spinach, nuts, legumes, fruit pits and cores, and other plant parts. The bonding of iron to the cyanide anions stabilizes the compound so it can neither bind to biological structures nor break down in the presence of gastric acids.

Talc

Synonyms: magnesium silicate

Toxicity, carcinogenicity, bioaccumulation, or other health concerns: Limited data on toxicity and carcinogenicity. Risk of contamination of asbestos.

Already present in diet: No.

Notes: Can be artificially synthesized but is found naturally in metamorphic rock.

Tricalcium Phosphate (TCP)

Synonyms: bone phosphate, bone phosphate of lime (BPL), calcium phosphate, tricalcium bis(phosphate), tribasic calcium phosphate, calcium orthophosphate

Toxicity, carcinogenicity, bioaccumulation, or other health concerns: None.

Already present in diet: Yes.

Notes: Can be artificially synthesized but is found naturally in vertebrate bones and milk.

Note that this is by no means a comprehensive guide.

I am not going to tell you what is safe or not safe, although the more questionable ingredients are used less often. I simply want to encourage people to do their own research instead of taking everything they read at face value.

I realize that in the past I’ve jumped on the bandwagon of “no chemicals”. Although I much prefer more “natural” foods, I think that even with anti-caking agents processed foods such as breakfast cereals, crackers, cheeses, and even commercial pet foods can be safely offered in a balanced diet.

Further Reading:

Environment and Climate Change Canada: https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-cl ... estic.html

Food Standards Australia & New Zealand: https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consum ... fault.aspx

Food Standards Agency: https://www.food.gov.uk/business-guidan ... -e-numbers

Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare: https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsu ... 00012.html

U.S. Food and Drug Administration: https://www.fda.gov/food/food-additives ... -list#ftnT

[Xenocrab]

My husband and I go organic with the crabbies! No need for anything else. We try to stay with what the scavengers would find in the wild

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk