Pass the salt? Poland road salt deemed fit for human consumption

Laboratory tests show de-icing salt sold by five arrested men to bakeries and meat-processing plants is safe in human food
Road salt
Road salt is used to de-ice roads and paths, not usually in food, as has happened in Poland Photograph: redsnapper/Alamy/Alamy

Officials say laboratory tests have shown that road salt sold to food producers in some regions of Poland is not harmful.

Five people in north and western Poland have been arrested on charges that they sold the salt to bakeries and meat-processing plants and thus endangered the lives and health of consumers. Road salt is used to fight ice on roads in winter.

However, laboratory experts in Pulawy and prosecutors in Gorzów Wielkopolski said on Wednesday that the amounts of dioxins and heavy metals in the salt were minimal and not harmful to human health.

The tests were carried out on samples from all over Poland, as part of a criminal investigation.

The Czech Republic has temporarily banned edible salt imports from Poland as a precaution.