Artisan sea salt f irm in deception row goes bust owing £244,000
AN artisan sea salt firm which was accused of bulking its product with table salt is being wound up.
In 2011 Natalie Crayton opened the Hebridean Sea Salt Company on the Isle of Lewis, telling customers she hand-harvested the seasoning by evaporating it from the waters of Loch Erisort.
Packs containing 150g (5oz) of the product fetched £2.10 each and promised unrivalled flavour from ‘one of the most unspoilt coastlines in the world’.
But Miss Crayton’s business – which sealed a £180,000 deal with Sainsbury’s last year – came crashing down earlier this year after an investigation by Food Standards Scotland (FSS).
Following a tip-off from an exemployee, an investigation by the watchdog found more than 80 per cent of the product was ‘imported table salt’. In May an FSS spokesman said: ‘Deception of consumers on this scale is not acceptable.’
Despite promising ‘nothing added, nothing removed’ in the island manufacturing process it was reported that the salt was thought to originate from Israel. The company premises were raided in the wake of the findings, with much of the product seized.
A legal winding up document submitted to Stornoway Sheriff Court states the insolvent firm has a financial ‘deficiency’ of £244,106.
The firm is ‘unable to pay its debts as they fall due’, according to the document.
Western Isles Council said its probe into the firm is continuing.
Miss Crayton could not be contacted for comment last night.