The Indian Tea Association (ITA) has claimed that all the stakeholders in the value chain, namely producers, buyers, packeteers are responsible law abiding entities providing the Indian consumer with a safe and sustainable cup of tea.
Expressing concern over the media reports alleging consumer tea packs containing non-compliant teas, the ITA secretary general Arijit Raha said, “All Indian tea estates and factories are registered with the Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and remain committed to comply with the prevalent standards of the FSSAI. The present testing protocol allows testing of 33 chemicals for tea. 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 testing of banned chemicals.”
“Further, 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. The ITA supports comprehensive testing to check compliance of teas,” Mr Raha added.
“There is however, a need to create further testing infrastructure including a testing mechanism for testing of green leaf. This has been flagged by the Indian Tea Association with the appropriate authorities,” the secretary general added.