sells Hawaiian black salt online, with a price of 113g for 148 yuan. Photo/Screenshot of a certain e-commerce platform
Recently, various "Internet celebrities" imported salt have broken people's perception of salt.
According to the " Beijing Youth Daily " report on September 18, originally, a bag of 400 grams of edible fine salt was about 3 yuan, while Himalayan powder salt, Persian blue salt, American Hawaiian black salt, French gray salt, salt flower... In addition to its exquisite packaging, all kinds of things, with the origin as the "selling point", the price is even more amazingly expensive. For example, a bottle of 425 grams of Hawaiian black salt in the United States costs as much as 169 yuan.
In fact, whether it is ordinary salt or internet celebrity salt, whether it is sea salt, lake salt, mineral salt, , and rock salt, its main components are sodium, iodine and other elements, and its core functions are seasoning. Ordinary edible salt also comes from the natural world, and its ingredients and nutritional value are almost the same as those of Internet celebrity salt. Even if some Internet celebrity salts contain some trace elements, the content is extremely low and almost negligible. For example, elements such as arsenic and uranium are relatively large, which will be harmful to human health.
Moreover, the main component of salt is sodium, and other elements can be classified as "impurities". If Internet celebrity salt contains more non-sodium "minerals" elements, it means that it has more impurities.
According to the marketing logic given by some merchants that "the content of calcium, magnesium, potassium, etc. in Internet celebrity salt is higher than that of ordinary salt and has a more balanced nutrition" and coarse salt should be more nutritious than refined salt. But both facts and consumer experience prove that this is untenable.
For the use of nutritional enhancers for edible salt and the labeling of nutrients, my country has strict management standards and limited scope. According to the " Food Nutritional Fortifier Usage Standard " revised by the former Ministry of Health, no nutritional fortifiers other than iodine shall be added to salt. The "nutritional component table" labeling methods are only three: "containing sodium", "containing sodium, iodine", and "containing sodium, iodine, and potassium".
This means that other so-called "mineral" elements are not within the scope of the "nutritional ingredients list" and are not allowed to be added to salt. In other words, salt is just a condiment, not a health product or nutritional product. It is basically unreliable to supplement "nutritional elements" by salt that has already been restricted intake.
Promotional copy of a certain brand of Himalaya Rose Salt. Photo/Screenshot of a certain e-commerce platform
Merchants label Internet celebrity salt with labels such as "natural", "minerals", and "nutrition", and tell consumers beautiful and attractive marketing stories, which are more or less suspicious of intentional misleading. The " Advertising Law " clearly states that advertisements must not contain false or misleading content, and must not deceive or mislead consumers.
Strictly speaking, the "marketing stories" of Internet celebrity salt told by merchants lack factual evidence and scientific support. This false propaganda can easily mislead consumers, thereby hindering and infringing on consumers' right to know and choose.
"Internet celebrity salt" cannot mislead consumers by relying on "marketing stories". Market supervision departments, Consumer Association , and related industry associations will need to strengthen popular science publicity on salt consumption, educate and guide consumers to increase their understanding of salt, and improve their scientific consumption literacy.
At the same time, it is also necessary to work with sales channels such as e-commerce platforms to conduct targeted investigations on the marketing behavior of Internet celebrities and draw a marketing bottom line for merchants in accordance with the law. If false and exaggerated publicity is found, intervene in a timely manner through interviews, investigations, orders for rectification, exposure, etc., and warn information is issued to consumers, and the misleading marketing packaging of Internet celebrity salt is promptly tear off.
Of course, consumers also need to consume rationally, and should not be confused by the so-called non-seasoning function of Internet celebrity salt among some merchants. Do not pay too much attention to other ingredients other than main elements such as "sodium" and "iodine". In comparison, the quality and safety of salt are the most important. Written by
/ Li Yingfeng (lawyer)
editing / Chi Daohua
proofreading / Lu Qian Yang Xuli
