or Good salt - Haiti Program - University of Notre Dame

With help from CargillR&D in Minneapolis,the salt lab at NotreDame’s Haiti Programhas found ways tomedicate the saltwithout changingits color. A key tomarketing the salt is tokeep it as close to thelocally produced saltthat consumers prefer.cause loss in IQ and developmental disability in children and,in adults, goiters (thyroid gland enlargement) or stillbirths.Few Haitian households have access to adequately iodizedsalt, and iodine deficiency disorders is estimated to affectmore than half the Haitian population.Most salt in Haiti is produced along the northwest coastusing rudimentary methods to evaporate seawater. Individualproducers obtain about two salt harvests a year from theirsmall basins, but along with sodium chloride, the salt containsmineral impurities and dirt. The impurities make medicatingthe salt ineffective. And because of the dirt, Haitians are usedto washing the salt, which would rinse away any medication.As a near-term measure, salt for the Haiti program comesfrom Cargill’s modern solar sea salt program in Bonaire, inthe Lesser Antilles, just north of the coast of Venezuela. In2010, Cargill Salt agreed to provide 100 tons of pure salt fromBonaire. The salt was delivered to Haiti by Cargill’s long-timecustomer Bromo Industrial of the Dominican Republic.While the Bonaire salt is being used near-term, no one—not Cargill, the University of Notre Dame or the Haitian government—wantsto put the hundreds of small Haitian salt producersout of business.Several non-governmental organizations—focused on fortifyingsalt to fight iodine deficiency—had been trying in recentyears to convince the Haitian producers to form cooperativesand adopt the “modern” salt production methods. Under thisapproach, 20 or so producers would contribute their individualponds to create a series of interconnected shallow basins.These systems allow the sea water to gradually circulate seawater, pond after pond, over a period of years, to crystallizethe salt and eliminate impurities.Cargill’s Jim Reimercame up with a screenthat helps eliminate thefinest crystals. Haiti’sconsumers like their saltto have large crystals.While Notre Dame cansell medicated salt,the medication willhave no effect unlessthe product is widelyaccepted by consumers.