THE MICROPLASTIC MENU: Salt’s Dirty Secret

Walk into any trendy kitchen today and there it is, staring at you like a crystalized dare: Himalayan pink, black lava, flaky Maldon pyramids—every influencer’s pantry is basically a geology museum. And behind that artisanal shine? A cargo of microscopic stowaways: plastic shards, fibers, and particles so small they’d make a fruit fly look like a linebacker. Welcome to the psychedelic nightmare of sea-salt production in the age of plastic. 1. The Sneaky Invaders: Micro- vs. Nano-plastics Scientists call them microplastics (anything between 1 micron and 5 millimeters) and nanoplastics (smaller than a micron—basically invisible gremlins). These things don’t just float around oceans like confetti; they worm their way into evaporation ponds, get cozy with algae mats, hitchhike on harvesting tools, and then crystallize right into your salt shaker. The lab rats with their lasers and Raman scopes are finally spotting nanoplastics in co...