page_title: Himalayan salt
section_title: Mineral composition
hierarchical_section_title: Himalayan salt / Mineral composition
caption_attribution_description: English: Himalayan rock salt crystals.
context_page_description: Himalayan salt is rock salt mined from the Punjab region of Pakistan. The salt often has a pinkish tint due to mineral impurities. It is primarily used as a food additive as table salt, but is also used as a material for cooking and food presentation, decorative lamps, and spa treatments. The salt is promoted with claims that it benefits health, but these claims lack any scientific basis.
context_section_description: Himalayan salt is chemically similar to table salt. Analysis of a range of Khewra salt samples showed them to be between 96% and 99% sodium chloride, with varying amounts of trace minerals such as calcium, iron, zinc, chromium, magnesium and sulfate, all at safe levels below 1%.
  Some salts mined in Pakistan are not suitable for food or industrial use without purification due to impurities. Some salt crystals from this region have an off-white to transparent color, while impurities in some veins of salt give it a pink, reddish, or beet-red color.
  Himalayan salt is nutritionally similar to common table salt, though it lacks the beneficial iodine that is added to commercial iodised table salt.
caption: Himalayan salt crystals
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