Silica Gel Dubai

Most silica gel packets contain one or two grams only. Silica gel desiccants are considered "hazardous" because of its potentially irritating nature, not because of its toxicity. Sodium silicate is listed to have an LD50 of about 1.6g/kg. Silicon dioxide is listed to have an LD50 of >~5g/kg, more than 3x times less poisonous than sodium silicate.

If the silica gel in the packet is blue (turns pink), it is doped with cobalt chloride, which is typically used in desiccants such as Drierite at about a 3% level. There are claimed non-toxic (orange) alternatives, but the indicator within the orange silica gel is, if I'm reading things right, either Methyl Violet (turns purple) or ferric ammonium sulfate (turns clear/ lt purple/blue-green).

Cobalt chloride LD50 = 766 mg/kg. So at 3% of the silica, it's no more toxic than the silica gel itself, proportionately, as long because it isn't more than about 10% approximately of the silica. Cobalt compounds are supposed to not be bioavailable, precipitating in physiological

concentrations of phosphate and binding strongly to albumin. However, oral administration of 80mg/kg of cobalt chloride was shown to induce chromosomal changes in mice http://oem.bmj.com/content/58/10/619.abstract, so if the silica gel was blue or pink, I'd probably be very worried if I ate some, even though I wouldn't expect to feel anything.

Methyl Violet LD50 = 413mg/kg. More toxic than CoCl2! Again, in proportion, less toxicity risk than the silica gel itself, as long because it isn't more than 5% of the silica. Ferric Ammonium Sulfate is pretty much nontoxic, so I would expect this is the form used in the packets included with food.

As a desiccant, it can be used to absorb moisture from the surroundings. Commercially, it is using worldwide as a moisture absorber. It can contain a wide range of "ingredients". Silica gel is manufactured from some chemical combinations such as sodium silicate, acidified to silicon dioxide/silicic acid.