Potassium permanganate is a salt compound with the chemical formula KMn04. It is used in water treatment processes and also in the sanitizing of food products. In fresh foods, potassium permanganate can be used as a rinsing agent to remove bacteria and pesticides. The pure crystalline form of potassium permanganate is dangerous to human health. A diluted form of potassium permanganate may be found in several foodstuffs.
Poultry and Eggs
Potassium permanganate is commonly used to treat public drinking water supplies, although such use must be in accordance with government-established labeling and permit requirements. When poultry birds drink such treated water, potassium permanganate can end up in the birds' flesh. Therefore, it is possible for some poultry meat to contain potassium permanganate. Likewise, potassium permanganate can pass from drinking water through a laying bird into her eggs.
Fish
Because it is present in drinking water and is also discharged into the water system by industrial facilities such as cooling towers, it is possible for potassium permanganate to be absorbed into the bodies of freshwater fish. Testing of fish carried out in 1985 in preparation for potassium permanganate's official chemical fact sheet found some freshwater fish carrying potassium permanganate.
Modified Food Starch
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of low levels of potassium permanganate as a bleaching agent in modified food starch. The concentration of potassium permanganate which the FDA allows in modified food starch is limited to a maximum of 0.2 percent. The residual manganese levels allowed must be no more than 50 parts per million.
Member Comments