Investigation of the moisture-induced caking behavior with various dietary salts

Caking of dietary salt is a well-known problem in food industries. In this study, caking behavior of various kinds of dietary salt, including refined salt, sea salt (from South Korea and France), bamboo salt, rock salt, and sodium chloride (used as control group) was investigated. According to our results, these dietary salts had different mineral content and moisture sorption isotherm. The sea salt had more minerals than the other salts. As a result, the deliquescence relative humidity of the sea salt was significantly lower than that of the other dietary salt, which resulted in higher water sorption ability. After salts were stored in two humidity cycle conditions, the change in moisture content, caking strength, passed ratio, and morphology was determined. In the case of sea salt, the highest caking strength, the lowest passed ratio, and lots of crystal bridges caused by caking were observed.