UK consumers are upgrading to gourmet salt from ordinary table salt as the likes of smoked, sea and pink salts move to the mainstream. That is according to UK-based retailer Tesco, who says that in the past year alone, the demand for different varieties of salt have increased by as much as 2,600 percent as consumers grow more conscious of their salt intake.

The trend is proliferating so much so that Tesco now stocks eight different gourmet salt products – outnumbering ordinary table salt ones for the first time ever. The rising demand has led to gourmet salt moving from being a niche product to now accounting for more than 40 percent of total salt sales at Tesco.

In the last year the supermarket has seen the following rises in gourmet salt varieties, each with their own distinctive taste:

• Smoked salt – demand up by 250 percent

• Sea Salt Crystals – up by nearly 2,600 percent

• Himalayan Pink Salt – a rise of more than 2,000 percent

• Rock Salt – grown by more than 2,000 percent

“The increasing demand is largely down to growing public awareness of the health benefits of scratch-cooking and in turn following chefs’ and influencers’ leads when it comes to seasoning dishes in order to improve the flavor of our food,” Paul Curtis, a Tesco Herbs and Spices Buyer  explains.

“Latest sales figures reveal that demand for table salt is completely flat and all the growth in the salt market is coming from newer, gourmet varieties,” he adds. 

One British company at the forefront of the gourmet salt revolution is Cornish Sea Salt launched in 2013 and since then it has seen sales rise by 250 percent, which has allowed it to quadruple the size of its plant to meet the rising demand.

“The past few years have seen a significant rise in the demand for sea salt in the UK, quadrupling output from our sea salt house in Cornwall as a result,” says Philip Tanswell, Managing Director at the company.

“Our salts are naturally lower in sodium and contain over 60 healthy minerals. They pack such a punch that you’ll get away with using 30 percent less than other salts for the same intensity of flavor.”

Salt reduction in the UK specifically, is a growing area of interest. 

Earlier this week, investors called on Tesco to disclose the proportion of its sales made up of healthy food and drink products and set ambitious targets to increase these over time. ShareAction, touted as a responsible investment NGO, is leading these demands, joined by EQ Investors and Nest, which is a Tesco shareholder. This comes as links between obesity and worsened COVID-19 outcomes are elucidated, with pressure mounting on industry to aid reformulation.

In March, salt-reduction lobbyists at Action on Salt called for both the UK government and the food industry to take action. 

“Salt is the leading cause of raised blood pressure, which, in turn, is the major cause of strokes and heart disease worldwide. According to the Department of Health & Social Care, each one daily reduced gram in population salt intake saves more than 4,000 premature deaths per year in the UK,” the AoS affirmed at the time. 

Moreover, a high-salt diet is not only detrimental to heart health, but also the immune system, according to a study conducted at the University of Bonn, Germany. Mice fed a high-salt diet were found to suffer from much more severe bacterial infections. Likewise, human volunteers who consumed an additional 6 g of salt per day – equivalent to two fast-food meals – also showed pronounced immune deficiencies.