Why was salt so important during the time of Mali Empire?

The trade in gold helped Mali stay very wealthy. The main item they would import was salt which they would use it for many things.  Salt was mainly used to preserve foods, like meat, but also corpses, etc. Malians would also need salt in their food, since they wouldn't normally have much in their diet

Explanation:

I hope yall' understood.

its kind of blury sorry