Wilson Field appointed as scandal-hit island sea salt firm goes into liquidation

An artisan sea salt company which supplied Sainbury’s and was a recipient of funding from Highlands and Islands Enterprise before its product was exposed by food inspectors for containing “80 per cent imported table salt” has gone into liquidation, with Fiona Grant and Lisa Hogg of insolvency firm Wilson Field appointed.

Hebridean Sea Salt, which was lauded by celebrity chefs as a top Scottish product and marketed itself as harvested “by hand” in Loch Erisort on the Isle of Lewis, was investigated by the Western Isles Council and Food Standards Scotland earlier this year.

HIE had provided £174,573 in funds to help expand the business run by Natalie Crayton, which at one point sold its products at 360 Sainbury’s stores in a deal worth £180,000, but an inquiry launched in February by Foods Standards Scotland resulted in the firm ceasing production only a few weeks later.

Ms Crayton had previously claimed that “seeding” – where foreign salt crystals are added to sea water to encourage growth – was a common practice in the industry.

FFS said in May that it believed revealing details of the case were “in the public interest” when it took the unusual step of issuing a statement during an investigation into the firm – and warned that the firm’s actions could damage the reputation of Scotland’s artisan foods.

It said: “Investigations discovered that over 80 per cent of the salt found in Hebridean Sea Salt did not originate in the Hebrides, but was imported table salt.”

Insolvency firm Wilson Field has been appointed as interim liquidator of the company which had also been awarded a coveted Great Taste Award.

A statement from the Wilson Field said: “Problems at the Lewis-based Hebridean Sea Salt have been well-documented in the local and national media, with claims made by the FSS that the product labelling was misleading because products contained 80 per cent of imported table salt. Owner and founder, Natalie Crayton, strongly disputed that her actions were deceptive and accused the FFS of ‘bully-boy tactics’.”

Documents filed with Companies House list Ms Crayton as one of two directors of the firm, alongside David Whiteford OBE, who is also a director of both the Aberdeen University Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health and Merchiston Castle School, among other business interests.