Iodine
Iodine is the chemical element of atomic number 53, a halogen sold as lustrous blue-black crystalline flakes or plates that sublime readily to a violet vapour, and it is the raw material from which the iodide and iodate salts used in food fortification and nutrition are made.
In food and nutraceutical use the element is almost never added as elemental iodine itself. It is converted first into potassium iodide, potassium iodate, sodium iodide, sodium iodate, calcium iodate or cuprous iodide, since these salts are water soluble, non-volatile and stable in a dry mineral matrix. The nutritional function is the same in every case: iodine is an essential trace element required for the synthesis of the thyroid hormones thyroxine and triiodothyronine, and deficiency remains the principal preventable cause of goitre and impaired neurological development worldwide, which is why salt iodisation is a public health measure in most countries.
Elemental iodine is only slightly soluble in water, dissolving far more readily in ethanol, potassium iodide solution and non-polar solvents. It is corrosive, volatile at ambient temperature and stains organic material, so it is shipped in fibre or plastic drums with sealed liners and handled in ventilated areas. The derived salts by contrast are free-flowing crystalline powders, freely soluble in water. Iodate is markedly more stable than iodide in humid or acidic salt, and it is that stability against loss during storage and cooking that decides which one a fortification programme selects.
We source bulk Iodine from top China manufacturers for our partners. The manufacturer is in Jiangsu. A smaller requirement can ship in a combined container with other ingredients.
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- Function
- Nutraceutical
Specifications
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Appearance | Blue-black lustrous crystalline flakes or plates with metallic sheen |
| Odour | Characteristic sharp irritant odour |
| Identification | Violet vapour on heating; blue colour with starch solution |
| Assay (iodometric titration) | ≥ 99.5% |
| Melting Range | 112 °C – 115 °C |
| Non-volatile Residue after Sublimation | ≤ 0.05% |
| Chloride and Bromide (as Cl) | ≤ 0.028% |
| Loss on Drying (over silica gel, 4 h) | ≤ 0.1% |
| Sulphated Ash | ≤ 0.05% |
| Heavy Metals (as Pb) | ≤ 10 mg/kg |
| Lead | ≤ 5.0 mg/kg |
| Arsenic | ≤ 3.0 mg/kg |
| Iron | ≤ 10 mg/kg |
| Solubility | Slightly soluble in water; freely soluble in ethanol and in potassium iodide solution |
Common Markets Grades
Elemental iodine is traded mainly as resublimed crystal at 99.5 to 99.9 percent purity, meeting the requirements of the United States Pharmacopeia and European Pharmacopoeia monographs, with a lower prilled technical grade sold for chemical synthesis and catalyst use. Specification points are assay, non-volatile residue on sublimation, chloride and bromide expressed as chlorine, and moisture.
For nutritional use the traded articles are the salts. Potassium iodide and potassium iodate carry a 99 percent minimum assay in food and pharmacopoeial grades, in crystalline and fine powder forms, and potassium iodate is offered as a premix dilution on a salt or calcium carbonate carrier for direct dosing into salt refineries. Feed grade ethylenediamine dihydroiodide is a separate article used in animal nutrition. Encapsulated and stabilised versions of potassium iodide exist for double fortified salt, where the iodine has to be protected from the iron compound present in the same crystal.
Applications
- Universal salt iodisation, where potassium iodate is sprayed onto refined table salt as the principal global intervention against iodine deficiency
- Double fortified salt carrying both iodine and encapsulated iron for national fortification programmes
- Multivitamin and multimineral tablets, supplying iodine as potassium iodide within the mineral premix
- Prenatal supplements, iodine requirement rising in pregnancy and lactation
- Infant formula and follow-on formula mineral premixes, iodine being a mandatory nutrient in the compositional standards
- Medical nutrition, enteral and parenteral formulations requiring a defined trace element profile
- Livestock and poultry feed premixes, usually as calcium iodate or ethylenediamine dihydroiodide
- Bread and bakery iodisation programmes in countries that fortify flour or bread salt
- Antiseptic and disinfectant manufacture, as the iodine source for povidone-iodine and iodophor solutions
- Analytical reagent use in iodometric titration, including the peroxide and iodine value methods used across the fats and oils trade
Brands Using Iodine
Widely-distributed consumer products that list Iodine on the ingredient label.
- Double Wood SupplementsPotassium Iodide Supplement ↗Tablets of potassium iodide, described on the page as a salt of the minerals iodine and potassium supplying nonradioactive iodine.Label verified 2026-08-31
- Nature's WayBladderwrack ↗Bladderwrack capsules are sold as a marine plant source of iodine for thyroid support.Label verified 2026-08-31
- NutricostMethylated Multivitamin ↗Iodine is one of the minerals in this daily multivitamin, listed with calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc and selenium.Label verified 2026-08-31
- CodeageKids Multivitamin Gummies+ ↗These pectin-based children's gummies supply iodine along with vitamins A, C, D2, B6, B12, zinc and folate.Label verified 2026-08-31
Brand names, product names and logos are the property of their owners. They appear here as published evidence that the ingredient is used, taken from the brand's own label or website. Their appearance is not an endorsement, and it does not mean the brand buys from us or from any manufacturer listed on this site.
China Manufacturers of Iodine
Top Iodine manufacturers in China.
Company names and logos are the property of the manufacturers themselves. They are listed here because our own directory records them as producing this ingredient. A listing is not an endorsement by them, and we do not represent them or speak on their behalf.
Regulatory Status
In the United States iodine sources for nutritional use are handled as GRAS substances rather than as additives requiring approval: potassium iodide and cuprous iodide are affirmed for use as sources of dietary iodine in table salt, and potassium iodate and calcium iodate are used in animal feed under the relevant feed additive provisions. Iodine is a required nutrient in infant formula under the Infant Formula Act provisions administered by FDA, with minimum and maximum levels specified. Elemental iodine and its solutions are additionally recognised in the United States Pharmacopeia, and antiseptic uses fall under the over-the-counter drug monograph system. Salt iodisation in the United States is voluntary, with iodised salt labelled accordingly.
In the European Union Annex II to Directive 2002/46/EC as amended lists the iodine compounds permitted in food supplements: sodium iodide, sodium iodate, potassium iodide and potassium iodate. The same compounds appear in Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 1925/2006 governing the addition of vitamins and minerals to foods. Iodine is a mandatory nutrient in infant and follow-on formula under Regulation (EU) No 609/2013 and its delegated acts. Iodine compounds are nutrients rather than additives and so carry no E number. Codex Alimentarius addresses iodisation through the Standard for Food Grade Salt, which sets purity requirements for salt and provides for the addition of iodine compounds where salt is the vehicle for a fortification programme, and iodine appears in the Codex advisory list of nutrient compounds for use in foods for special dietary uses. JECFA has evaluated iodine as a nutritionally essential element rather than as a food additive.
Manufacturing Process
Two commercial sources dominate. In the caliche ore deposits of northern Chile, iodine occurs as sodium iodate and lautarite associated with nitrate minerals. The ore is heap leached with water, and the resulting iodate-bearing liquor is treated in two stages: part of the iodate is reduced with sulphur dioxide to iodide, and that iodide stream is then recombined with fresh iodate liquor, whereupon the two comproportionate and precipitate elemental iodine as a fine solid. The crude iodine is filtered, melted under sulphuric acid to strip water and impurities, and prilled or cast.
The second source is deep underground brine, worked in Japan and the United States, where iodide is present in solution at low concentration. The brine is acidified and treated with chlorine, which oxidises iodide to elemental iodine, and the iodine is stripped from the liquid by a countercurrent air stream in the blowing-out process. The loaded air is contacted with a sulphur dioxide absorbing solution that reduces the iodine back to hydrogen iodide, concentrating it, and a further chlorine oxidation precipitates the element in a purified state. Crude iodine from either route is refined by sublimation, in which the solid is vaporised on heating and recondensed as pure crystals on cooled surfaces, leaving non-volatile residues behind. For nutritional grades the refined element is then reacted with potassium or sodium hydroxide, which disproportionates it into iodide and iodate; the two are separated by fractional crystallisation, recrystallised, dried and milled.
