The Story of Salt

The white area on the map is where salt in the Rann of Kutch comes from and offers a visual representation for the huge amount of salt that originates from this area.

• India is the world's third largest producer of salt, at 8.86% or 27,006,626 tons of salt per year as of 2017. (worldatlas.com)
• Rann of Kutch produces 76% of salt sourced from India, or 6.73% of the total salt produced in the world, 20,525,035.8 tons of salt per year as of 2016 (aljazeera.com), in 1919 India produced 481,086 tons per year which puts increased consumption into perspective. (Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, Vol. 67)

• This area has been a major salt producing entity for hundreds of years and families in the area have continued the practice.

"In the monsoon months, Rann of Kutch is submerged in sea water. As the water recedes from October, the Agariyas move in to set up square fields to grow the salt. They dig wells to pump out the briny groundwater and fill the fields where the natural evaporation process leaves behind white crystals." (Sugato Mukherjee, aljazeera.com)

Following this process, the farmers use wooden rakes called gantaras to to scrape up the salt. They must do this until the crystals become small because larger crystals produce a smaller profit, although profits are still extremely small due to costs of generators, fuel, and other tools necessary to harvest salt. (Sanchari Pal, thebetterindia.com)

This picture depicts one of the harsh realities of salt farmers in Rann of Kutch- child labor. The boy pictured was 12 at the time of the picture and had been farming for two years at that point.

Once harvested, salt must go through a thorough refining process in order to be safe for consumption. One such processing plant is owned by Raj Process Equipments and Systems Pvt. Ltd. in what seems to be Pune, Maharashtra, India, which is south of Gujurat where Rann of Kutch is.

The graphic below is from the Raj Process Equipments and Systems Pvt. Ltd. salt plant that illustrates their process. They also seem to sell their salt refining machines, although this isn't made abundantly clear.

The system this company uses consists of washing the salt, evaporating the brine with vapor recompression evaporators, use of a crystallizer vessel, which creates a salt cake, which is then dewatered, and sent to the dryer to form salt crystals. (raj-turnkey.com)

According to the UN Comtrade Database, India exported $226,687,153 worth of salt across the globe in 2018. These profits rarely go to those who farm salt in harsh conditions however, the farmers in Rann of Kutch make "₹ 60 per ton whereas the retail price of domestic salt is ₹ 5500."(Sanchari Pal, thebetterindia.com) That's equivalent to .84 cents per ton for farmers and $76.78 for manufacturers and retailers.

According to mbarendevous.com, India exports the most salt to China, Japan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, South Korea, North Korea, Malaysia, U.A.E., and Vietnam. However, much of this salt ends up in China.

Once in China, many manufacturers like McCormick purchase salt in order to make their spices. One of their main manufacturing locations is in Hunt Valley, MD. From there, the finished spices are circulated throughout the United States.

The finished spices are then circulated throughout the United States to various retailers from the McCormick Distribution Center in Belcamp, MD.

I attempted to get more in depth information regarding transportation methods and how they specifically processed salt. I received a response saying, "Please be advised that due to the proprietary trade secrets status of McCormick’s legacy formulas, information requested is considered as proprietary data and will not be provided." I thought this was odd considering that in their performance report they boast about "transparent labelling" , "commitment to the planet," and "commitment to communities," yet they wouldn't answer any questions about something as seemingly harmless as transportation methods or salt processing. To me, this made me wonder about the truth behind these commitments and the "trade secrets" McCormick has.

The person I interviewed told me about his sentimental food item, burgers made by his dad, and I chose one specific part of the McCormick Montreal Seasoning used to season the patties, which was salt. His dad made them in their home in Stanly, North Carolina which is near Charlotte, his hometown.

He said the burgers had a specific taste that reminded him of home, especially while living in England until last year. While stationed in England, he would purchase this seasoning from the commissary on the base.

After moving to New Mexico, he now purchases the Montreal Seasoning from various Smith's locations around Albuquerque. The final destination of consumption for the Montreal Seasoning is his home on the east side of Albuquerque.

I asked him to send me any pictures he had of his significant food and realized upon receiving this that I could've done my commodity chain on Morton Salt instead of the salt within McCormick Montreal Seasoning.

Salt farmers in Rann of Kutch face severe health problems due to extended exposure to extremely saturated salt like:

• respiratory issues

• eye problems
• skin lesions
• tuberculosis
• short average lifespans

Most people that farm salt in Rann of Kutch don't live past the age of 60 due to these exposures, the fact that they must begin working at an early age, have a lack of proper healthcare, and are subjected to living in poor conditions. Since children must begin working at a young age, they often have little to no education. (aljazeera.com)

Due to extremely small profits, farmers don't have resources necessary to avoid these problems. Some organizations like SEWA and the NRDC have made efforts to help install solar panels to mitigate costs, but this is a slow process and can't make any immediate differences.

Farmers and their families must live in huts like the one pictured above during harvesting season, which is 6-7 months out of the year.

Four hours away, tourists can enjoy staying in places like the Bhuj House in Great Kutch, which have AC and Wi-Fi access. CNN Travel describes the "photogenic birds" of the area and photojournalist Shuchi Kapoor stated that "My first impression was that it was breathtaking -- even if impalpably dusty, barren, harsh, solitary, challenging."

The harsh realities of salt farming seemingly go unnoticed by the rest of the world, and the farmers working 10 hour days everyday in extremely harsh conditions will continue to be exploited as long as this is the case.

It's extremely hard to find information about the sources/processing surrounding specific commodities, and salt is no different. I believe this is somewhat intentional to hide exploitation like that present in Rann of Kutch. I had to search very specific things in order to even find any information on the process of salt refining (in India), and finding information about the farmers of Rann of Kutch and their living conditions was even more difficult. Researching this commodity chain has made it clear to me that probably almost every company producing any kind of good or commodity has some "trade secrets" like McCormick, that the public has no access to. The information I was able to find made me aware of the injustices present in the salt industry, specifically in India, and has caused me to gain an interest in researching more effects the things I consume everyday have on communities across the globe.

The World Atlas. "The World’s Top Salt Producing Countries". 2019. https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-world-s-top-salt-producing-countries.html

Mukherjee, Sugato. “The salt farmers of India’s Rann of Kutch marshes.” Aljazeera, September 18, 2016.https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2016/08/salt-farmers-india-rann-kutch-marshes-160823114732598.html.

Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce. “Salt Industry of South India.” Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, vol. 67. April 25, 1919. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41347948?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

Sanchari, Pal. “Worth their Salt: A Fascinating Glimpse into the World of the Hardworking Salt Farmers of Kutch.” The Better India. November 2, 2016. https://www.thebetterindia.com/73603/agariyas-salt-farmers-rann-of-kutch/

Raj Process Equipments and Systems Pvt. Ltd. "Salt Processing Plant." 2009. https://raj-turnkey.com/salt-processing-plant.html.

UN Comtrade Database. 2018. https://comtrade.un.org/data. (Reporters: India, Partners: World, commodity code 2501)

"Indian Salt Industry". MBA Rendezvous. https://www.mbarendezvous.com/case-studies/salt/.

Springer, Kate. "The lunar lamdscapes of India's Great Rann of Kutch." CNN Travel. July 8, 2018. https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/india-rann-of-kutch/index.html

"Purpose-led Performance Report". McCormick & Company. 2019.  https://p.widencdn.net/svjpy4/PLP_2017_Report_US_English .