Seawater pearls can't be directly made into pearl powder if they are pitted, so the possibility of many pearls being pitted is almost zero.
Therefore, seawater pearls cannot be pure pearl powder, while freshwater pearls are pure pearl powder.
Taihu Lake high-quality fresh water pearl powder can be taken orally, but generally the quality of fresh water pearl powder is very poor, so it cannot be taken orally.
If the price is too low, it is not pearl powder at all, and inferior pearl powder will have a smelly taste.
Suzhou veteran Zhen Shichang is a freshwater pearl of Taihu Lake. At that time, the Pearl of Taihu Lake was used by Cixi. As far as I know, pearl powder sold in bulk or in small workshops on Taobao is shell powder. The normal price of pearl powder is one gram in 5 yuan, and that of Zhenshichang pearl powder in 5 yuan is almost 1 gram. Just calculate how much one gram of pearl powder can get. Don't suffer big losses for cheap, no one will do business at a loss. I can say responsibly that 99% of pearl powder in Taobao is fake! Inferior fake pearl powder is either black or white. Black is because it contains shells, or improper technology leads to powder deterioration. White is due to the addition of bleach and other ingredients. Inferior fake pearl powder will give off an unpleasant smell when rubbed by hand.