Properties

Safety Information

Description

Endogenous sulfite is generated as a consequence of the body’’s normal processing of sulfur-containing amino acids. In addition, as discussed below, sulfite can be produced by neutrophils. Sulfites occur as a consequence of fermentation and also naturally in a number of foods and beverages. As food additives, sulfating agents were first used in 1664, and approved for use in the United States in the 1800s. Sulfite is also noted as a water treatment additive, for example, to control oxygen levels in power plant boiler water. Further, sulfur dioxide is acommonair pollutant produced by numerous processes (burning sulfurbearing coal, smelting sulfide ores, etc.), and may enter the body via inhalation. Sulfur dioxide has been reported to react with water in the ambient air and in the respiratory tract’s mucous membranes to form sulfite and bisulfite ions.