Processed
Ferrous Sulfate
Ferrous sulfate is an iron(II) salt widely used to fortify flour, breakfast cereals, infant foods, and supplements because elemental iron is cheaply delivered in a bioavailable form. At culinary fortification levels it is mixed into dry premixes; at higher doses it can leave a slight metallic note that formulators mask with encapsulation or alternative iron sources. Food grades are blue-green crystalline hydrates (commonly heptahydrate) that dissolve in water and darken on oxidation if poorly protected. Mills and factories meter microgram-to-milligram iron targets per serving under national enrichment rules.
Also known as: Ferrous Sulfate, Ferrous Sulphate, Ferrous Sulfate
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Breeds & varieties
A sample of named types with their own origin and culinary profiles.
Characteristics
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Nutrition and pairings
Nutrition
Typical values per 100 g edible portion. Nutrient names open the reference page.
Nutrition Facts
Per 100 g edible portion
Amount per 100 g
- Total Fat 0 g
- Saturated Fat 0 g
- Trans Fat 0 g
- Monounsaturated Fat 0 g
- Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Sodium 0 mg
- Salt 0 g
- Total Carbohydrate 0 g
- Dietary Fibre 0 g
- Total Sugars 0 g
- Complex / starch 0 g
- Protein 0 g
- Water 1 g
- Water 1 g
- Minerals 49300 mg
- Major Minerals 18300 mg
- Sulfur 18300 mg
- Trace Minerals 31000 mg
- Iron 31000 mg
Minerals
Dried ferrous sulfate used in flour fortification is an iron salt, not a grain food. Energy, protein, fat, and carbohydrate are 0. Iron is the labelled nutrient (~31 g/100 g on a dried food-grade basis); sulfate is not a vitamin source.
History
Iron-rich mineral and plant preparations were used in traditional medicine long before modern fortification chemistry.
Pharmaceutical ferrous sulfate (green vitriol relatives) entered standardised Western materia medica.
Wartime and post-war flour enrichment programmes included iron salts to fight dietary anaemia.
Ferrous sulfate became a default cheap iron source in cereal and flour fortification worldwide.
Encapsulation and alternative iron compounds competed with ferrous sulfate where taste and colour stability mattered.