Potassium Chloride (Supplement Grade)

Potassium chloride is the simple ionic salt KCl, molar mass 74.55 g/mol, and the most concentrated practical potassium carrier in nutrition work: the formula alone puts roughly 52.4 percent potassium and 47.6 percent chloride into every gram, with no organic ligand diluting the payload. Thovek supplies pharmacopoeial and food-grade material as white odourless crystals or free-flowing powder with the characteristic saline, slightly bitter taste, assaying 99.0 to 100.5 percent KCl on the dried basis against the USP/NF and Ph. Eur. monographs, loss on drying not more than 1.0 percent after two hours at 105 C, and a five percent solution reading pH 5.4 to 8.6. It dissolves freely in water at 33.97 g per 100 mL at 20 C and is practically insoluble in ethanol, so it suits aqueous stick packs, ready-to-drink bases and effervescent tablets but cannot be carried in an oil phase or a lipid matrix. Regulatory footing is settled in the major markets. Potassium chloride is listed in Annex II of Directive 2002/46/EC as a permitted source of potassium in EU food supplements and carries additive number E508 (INS 508) as an acidity regulator, gelling and firming agent and yeast food. The FDA Daily Value for potassium is 4,700 mg; the EU nutrient reference value under Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 is 2,000 mg. It is also the potassium salt in the WHO reduced-osmolarity oral rehydration formula at 1.5 g per litre, beside 2.6 g sodium chloride, 2.9 g trisodium citrate dihydrate and 13.5 g anhydrous glucose. One US labelling constraint is worth building into the brief early: 21 CFR 201.306 requires a small-bowel lesion warning on coated oral potassium salt tablets supplying 100 mg or more of potassium per tablet, which is why solid-dose supplements are conventionally held at or below 99 mg of potassium per unit. In formulation the two things to plan for are taste and moisture. KCl reads bitter and metallic well before it reads salty, so reduced-sodium blends normally pair it with sodium chloride plus a masking system rather than using it alone, and beverage powders are usually built to keep it under the level where the bitterness breaks through. The salt picks up atmospheric moisture and cakes in humid conditions, so granular, crystalline or micronised grades are selected for the compression or dissolution behaviour the process needs and liners are resealed between uses. Material is of mineral origin, refined from sylvite ore or brine. It is vegan, vegetarian and non-GMO, free of milk, egg, soy, fish, crustacean, gluten, peanut, tree nut and sesame, and is neither bovine, porcine nor marine derived. Every lot ships with a certificate of analysis; kosher, halal, allergen, GMO, TSE/BSE and residual-solvent statements and a full ICP-MS elemental report are available on request.