Guwahati: The Indian Tea Association (ITA) issued a statement regarding alleged consumer tea packs containing non-compliant teas and expressed support towards comprehensive testing to check compliance of teas.
The statement mentioned that Indian tea estates and factories are registered with the Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and remain committed to complying with the prevalent standards of FSSAI. The present testing protocol allows the testing of 33 chemicals for tea and testing is being done on a regular basis by tea producers as well as buyers. The testing protocol not only includes FSSAI prescribed Plant Protection Formulations (PPFs) but also covers the testing for banned chemicals.
Also, the Indian tea industry is subject to social audit by certification agencies to ensure compliance with social, environmental and ethical standards. These are well documented and a transparent system is in place to check the teas being produced by tea estates. There is, however, a need to create further testing infrastructure including a testing mechanism for testing the green leaf. This has been flagged by the Indian Tea Association with the appropriate authorities. The ITA expressed confidence that all the Stakeholders in the value chain viz. producers, buyers, packeteers, etc are responsible law abiding entities providing the Indian consumer with a safe and sustainable cup of tea, stated a press release.
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