British favourite Maldon Sea Salt uses German rock salt despite claims it's 100pc from Essex

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An investigation found that imported rock salt - mined in Germany - is used in the manufacture of the middle-class staple, which the firm says is used a filtration agent and to 'enrich the seawater' with minerals.

Published: 18:05 GMT, 15 November 2026 | Updated: 18:08 GMT, 15 November 2026

'Hand-harvested' near the town after which it is named, Maldon Salt is lauded by celebrity chefs and food influencers alike.

But it seems the firm's '100 per cent sea salt flakes' from Essex have more of a continental flavour than consumers may have appreciated.

A newspaper investigation has found that imported rock salt – mined in Germany – is used in the manufacture of the middle-class staple, which the firm says is used as a filtration agent and to 'enrich the seawater' with minerals.

This 'salt-on-salt' technique is a traditional method which uses additional salt to strengthen the salinity of the water, reducing the energy required to evaporate the water and extract the salt crystals.

The Observer spent three days monitoring Maldon's Longwick Farm production facility on the north bank of the Blackwater Estuary outside the town and saw four lorries delivering bags unloading around 12 tons of salt each. Salt bags were marked with the branding of K+S, a German mining company and one of the world's largest salt producers.

After The Observer contacted Maldon Salt, it said the company updated its website last Wednesday to describe the 'salt-on-salt' production method for the first time.

The website states: 'The water is settled and filtered, then prepared as brine using our long-established salt-on-salt process, in which natural, ancient sea salt forms part of the brine-making, to enrich the seawater with natural minerals.'

Andrea Sella, professor of chemistry at University College London, said once two sources of salt had been blended together, they were impossible to separate.

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