Marseille soap
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Marseille soap or Savon de Marseille (French pronunciation: [savɔ̃ də maʁsɛj]) is a traditional hard soap made from vegetable oils that has been produced around Marseille, France, for about 600 years. The first documented soapmaker was recorded there in about 1370. By 1688, Louis XIV introduced regulations in the Edict of Colbert limiting the use of the name savon de Marseille to olive oil based soaps.[1] The law has since been amended to allow other vegetable oils to be used.
By 1913, production had reached 180,000 tons. Thus, in 1924, there were 132 soapmaking companies in the Marseille and Salon-de-Provence areas combined. However, by 2000, there were only five remaining.[2]