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Salt From the Sea
Most of the salt that is marketed to the processed food industry, or sold by grocery and health food retailers is sold as sea salt. The fact is that all salt originally came from the sea.
Rock salt in mines is also sea salt that has gathered as deposits on ancient, dried seabeds. Altered and transported through time by unknown geological processes, this type of salt has not seen the sea for millions of years.
The issue is one of terminology. In most instances, sodium chloride (NaCl) is the product commonly referred to as 'salt'. However, sea salt is a far more complex salt than NaCl. To avoid what is quite obviously misleading labelling, common salt should be marketed as 'sodium chloride, extracted from sea salt'.
Of course there are other forms of processed crystal salts extracted from the sea that retain far more of the constituent elements of original sea salt. 'Celtic sea salt' is one of these. Celtic sea salt comes in many forms and is characterised by grain size, colour and dampness. The whiter and drier the salt the more it has been washed and 'purified'.
One of the concerns regarding Celtic and other 'natural' sea salt is the purity of the source sea water. Contamination occurs during the drying process (often outdoors), in addition to the alteration and loss of constituents by 'natural' and process washing of the salt stockpile. Much of the Celtic salt produced comes from Brittany in north-western France. Northern Europe is one of the most densely populated regions on our planet (refer: Pollution of the marine environment, NASA night map).
Consequently the waters off Brittany, which flow directly out of the English Channel, contain high levels of pollution. An alarming report issued recently notes detectable levels of pharmaceuticals passing through the population and into the waterways.
