A Chinese student I’m working with received a text message from the government that reads (in Mandarin), “Right now China has enough salt in the market. There is no need to worry about a salt shortage.”
Apparently Chinese citizens are stockpiling salt to protect against potential radiation exposure from Japan. But according to a Bloomberg article on the topic:
Table salt does not contain enough of the type of iodine needed to block radioactive iodine from damaging a person’s thyroid gland and should not be taken as a substitute for potassium iodide pills, according to healthline.com, a U.S.- based health-information Web site.”
“I just wanted to buy it for cooking, but I went to six supermarkets and there’s no salt any more,” said Zou Hemei, a Shanghai housewife, as half a dozen customers queued in the supermarket for the mineral. “I ended up buying soy sauce as a substitute.”