9 ms·
How can I buy salt that does not have this?
by nubela 8y ago
How can I buy salt that does not have this?
- thecolorblue 8y ago> The three brands that did not contain microplastics are from Taiwan (refined sea salt), China (refined rock salt), and France (unrefined sea salt produced by solar evaporation) There might be more info in the research paper linked in the article.
- black6 8y agoThat's great. Information on which brands are not contaminated is behind the ACS paywall. Good job, academia.
- ravenstine 8y ago> unrefined sea salt produced by solar evaporation Hmmm... that seems counterintuitive. I'd think that sea salt that's refined would contain less microplastic, not the other way around. Maybe they get their seawater from a part of the ocean that doesn't have microplastic? Also, I'd think that Himalayan salt would contain no microplastic, but then again, it wouldn't surprise me if Himalayan salt wasn't actually from the Himalayas.
- usrusr 8y agoMaybe the testers happened upon some very old stock that has gone through the evaporation pits before the plastic revolution. That industry goes way back.
- supertrope 8y agoThe process of crystallization excludes impurities. But that means they're not embedded in crystals, not that the heap of salt is free of impurities. I too discount food labeling claims.
- rladd 8y agoUnfortunately there isn't.
- ceejayoz 8y agoEasiest way is probably to get the pink salt from the Himalayas. The health claims around it are bogus, but as it's mined from the mountains (and usually sold in a highly unrefined format) it's fairly unlikely ocean microplastics have wound up in it. It's also readily identifiable in a way white chunks of salt aren't. > In another indicator of the geographic density of plastic pollution, microplastics levels were highest in sea salt, followed by lake salt and then rock salt.
- mtgx 8y agoIsn't there a slight worry that since it's not refined it might contain other harmful stuff? I admit I only read this once in passing and didn't investigate further. Also, does the Himalayan salt contain iodine? Because otherwise you may soon get a iodine deficiency. The reason iodine is added in table salt in the first place is because most people would be deficient otherwise.
- ceejayoz 8y agoEven before iodized salt, goiters were location dependent. The modern diet likely contains enough iodine from other sources - seafood, dairy, eggs, processed foods - that non-iodized table salt isn't likely to matter much. https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/cut-salt-it-wont-affect-your-iodine-intake https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/cut-salt-it-wont...
- ksenzee 8y agoTrue - but the modern diet probably also contains enough microplastics from other sources that avoiding them in salt isn't likely to matter much. :(
- soperj 8y agoI've used Himalayan salt for decades, no iodine deficiency. Unless you only eat at home, and no processed foods, you're likely getting plenty of iodine elsewhere.
- pseudoanonymity 8y ago
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- growlist 8y agoAt least here in the UK you can get UK rock salt, which I'd expect to be free of microplastics - it's mined from under the ground where it's been sitting for aeons, so unless the processing introduces microplastics (seems unlikely) I'd expect it to be pure.
- semi-extrinsic 8y agoTFA indicates rock salt also contain microplastics. If you're really paranoid, I'd suggest buying salt with sizeable crystals, and then rinse those in a saturated salt water bath. It seems to me these microplastics are not included in the salt grains, but rather dispersed among them. So they would float up. You could also check for microplastics in the salt you usually buy. Just dissolve 100g in 10L of water, and filter that through a dark finely woven cloth.
- thfuran 8y agoI'd rather melt the salt to take care of any infiltrating plastics.
- Reason077 8y agoIn the case of sea salt, doesn’t the salt crystal form around a seed particle? The plastic particles are seeding the crystal, so do end up “inside” the grains.
- docker_up 8y agoMicroplastics are already in the water supply. And they are microns large, so filtering it in cloth is useless.
- hathawsh 8y agoThe Real Salt company (Utah, USA) asserts their salt is not contaminated: https://realsalt.com/has-real-salt-sea-salt-been-contaminated-by-plastic/ https://realsalt.com/has-real-salt-sea-salt-been-contaminate... Real Salt is in local stores and at Amazon. Full disclosure: I do have an indirect affiliation with Real Salt.