BYE, BYE RED DYE!!
FAUX SALT?
FAUX PINK SALT!! There. I finally wrote it down for the world to read. I’m so tired of fighting with the massive, big box companies selling falsified pink salts and calling it “Pink Himalayan Salt.” Not only is that a flat out lie (what else is new?!) but it’s also making people sick!! The fact that any consumer sought out “pink salt” is because they clearly are educated and seeking to better their own health. Knowing that companies are fooling consumers and charging them a premium for it - outrages me!!
Know the Faux
A few years back, I started to see an enormous amount of “Pink Himalayan” salt products in the USA market. The shelves of stores were flooded with products in all shapes and sizes: coarse grain, fine grain and salt lamps too. I was shocked but also worried. At the time, I had a lot of money invested in pink Himalayan products, including a long-term contract with the largest salt mine directly in the Himalayas. Meanwhile, the sudden infiltration of pink salt products in the US market was also severely undercutting my prices - which was putting my company at high risks for financial losses. The grocery store shelves had pink salt selling for less than 10% of my costs! How is that even possible?? It’s not!! The fact of the matter is that the Himalayan salt mines are overwhelmed with demands and there’s zero possibility that “this much” pink salt could even exist in the US market.
Costs for Quality
The reality is that there are true costs involved in harvesting authentic Himalayan salt from the mines of the Himalayan Mountain range. First, the workers must go into the mine by foot as there are no automated vehicles capable of entering areas of harvest. Miners use pickaxes and hand drills to excavate salt from the mountain. The salt is then carried out by hand in large blocks. The blocks are inspected and then sorted by potential for processing the salt into different consumer products: fine grain, coarse grain, salt lamps or salt cooking slabs. The harvest process can take several weeks just to extract salt from the mines. It then takes several more weeks to process and pack the salt before it's even ready to board an ocean liner to make its voyage to the ports here in the USA. Let's say from start to finish, an Authentic Himalayan Salt harvest takes easily 3 to 4 months at best. The costs paid to the miners, transporters, packing companies, shipping companies and import fees - are far too high to sell the product as low as I was seeing. There's simply no possibility of it.
Getting to the Route
I decided to reach out to my supplier in Pakistan who I had been importing from for 6 years at the time. I told him about the market in the USA and to my surprise, he decided to pay me a visit. He also was curious about the sudden supply here in the USA. Over the next month, both my supplier and I purchased many of the products being sold on the shelves of everyday stores. We not only purchased these items but began testing them. We sent out the pink salt products to labs for testing and also performed our own in-house testing. The results were nothing short of disturbing: ALL FAKES!! There was nothing but manufactured salts dyed RED!! Yikes!!
Public Broadcast Plan
My partner and I tried to create public service announcements warning folks about the faux salts. We created videos that helped our case and educated consumers on this major issue. Unfortunately, our messages and effort had little to no response.
Let there Be Justice!
Back in the Spring of 2018, all my continued complaints to the FDA regarding the faux salts on the market were finally acknowledged. The FDA actually paid me a visit. Waahoooo!!! It was probably the only time the owner of a food business cheered and danced when the FDA showed up on the doorstep. They actually came to inspect my pink salt products and ensure I had all the proper documentation for our imported goods. Yes Sir, I sure do! It was rumored that brands were fined $10,000 per sku for each item being sold as "Pink Himalayan Salt" on store shelves. Stores were also forced to remove the goods from their shelves immediately. I felt so relieved that something was finally done.
Until...
About 2 weeks later, all the faux pink salt products went right back onto the shelves again. Boo! The main issue is that the FDA isn't big enough nor has enough funding to police everything, all the time. These companies make far more profits than the fines that were supposedly paid out, hence why everything went right back into the shelves once the coast was clear. Awful.
Trust the Source
Moving forward my best advice is always trust a reliable source who can provide actual documentation on exactly where their pink salt is coming from! As a consumer you have the right to ask and if a vendor cannot supply the information to you, then be leery of their products. SALTOPIA's Pink Himalayan products are all certified authentic and can always be trusted as a pure, all-natural pink salt!