STAFF REPORTER, GUWAHATI:
Tea Board India SOP Draft to Minimize Damage of Green Leaves: The Tea Board of India has drafted an SOP (Standard Operating Procedure or a set of step-by-step instructions) to transport and handle green tea leaves for ensuring their quality.
"Green leaves are mostly damaged during transportation from tea gardens to factories. So, it is important to have an SOP which can be followed by the gardens and the small tea growers in order to prevent damage to the green leaves during transportation," said a source in the Tea Industry.
The prime objective of the SOP guidelines is to prevent any damage to green leaves till they are are processed in tea factories. The development will eventually contribute to improve the quality of tea produced by different States particularly Assam, pointed out the source.
The Tea Board draft SOP has incorporated several recommendations for the workers who pluck tea leaves in the plantations. It has recommended that pluckers must not hold large quantities of leaves in baskets. They should create a collection area with a shed where the plucked leaves are kept in bulk ahead of their transportation to the factory and should also ensure that the leaves are loaded in trailers under the shed.
The Central Tea board SOP guidelines has recommended that tea leaves should reach the factory within four hours after the leaves are plucked. "Good teas cannot be produced from badly handled leaf," said the source.
On February 17, 2021, S. Soundararajan, Director of Tea Development of the Tea Board of India, sent letters to the stakeholders of the tea industry seeking their suggestions on the draft document.
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