High in pesticides, many nations ship again Indian tea

Both worldwide and home patrons have rejected a sequence of tea consignments as a result of presence of pesticides and chemical compounds past permissible limits, Indian Tea Exporters Association (ITEA) chairman Anshuman Kanoria mentioned on Friday.

Filling up the vacuum created by crisis-hit Sri Lanka within the world market, Tea Board is eyeing to ramp up exports. However, the rejection of consignments is inflicting a decline in outward shipments.

All teas offered within the nation should conform to the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) norms. However, many of the patrons are buying tea that has unusually excessive chemical content material, Kanoria instructed PTI.

In 2021, India exported 195.90 million kg of tea. The main patrons had been the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) nations and Iran. The board is aiming to attain 300 million kg of tea this 12 months.

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Kanoria mentioned that many nations are following strict entry rules for tea. Most of the nations comply with variations of the EU requirements, that are extra stringent than the FSSAI guidelines.

“Instead of complying with the law, many are urging the government to make the FSSAI norms more liberal,” he mentioned, including that this may ship a fallacious sign because the beverage is taken into account to be a well being drink.

A senior official of the Tea Board instructed PTI that complaints have been acquired from tea packers and exporters on the difficulty.

“It is reiterated that producers should strictly abide by the extant FSSAI norms. The issue of modification of the norms has been raised by the producers’ organisations with FSSAI. It is obvious that exports should adhere to the existing norms of the importing countries,” he mentioned.

India exported tea price Rs 5,246.89 crore in 2021.