As incredible as it sounds, you don’t need to take a grain of it with this news: Guangzhou residents may have consumed a total of 600 tons of inedible fake table salt from February until May of this year.

A report by China News on May 13 revealed the fake salt had been distributed at wholesaling markets in exchange for grains and cooking oil in the rural outskirts of Guangzhou.

A Guangzhou-based group had been producing and distributing the fake salt since February and had profited more than RMB 1 million (approximately USD $160 thousand) from the illegal trade. It’s unclear if the group had started the operation earlier than reported.

Most of the salt in question was non-iodized industrial salt, but the group packed it as iodized table salt under a brand name only revealed in the report as a single character, Yue (粤, meaning “Guangdong” or “Cantonese”).

Small consumption of iodine over a long period of time will increase the risks of contracting ailments such as thyroid nodule, a lump in the thyroid gland at the base of the neck, whereas the consumption of industrial salt, which contains excessive levels of metals, can cause more health problems.