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Tea manufacturers told to conform to BIS standards

KOCHI: Tea manufacturers should adopt a foolproof mechanism to ensure that the presence of iron filings in their produce does not exceed the prescribed limit, as fixed by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), said M.K. Ajit, President of the Tea Buyers Association, Kochi, in a statement issued here recently.

He said that this alone would help resolve the problem posed to tea exports by the presence of iron filings.

He also called for suitable modifications in the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act (PFA) 1954 in accordance with the stipulations of the BIS. Teas exported were mostly of Orthodox leaf grades, but in the internal market the demand was for CTC dust grades, he said in the statement issued in the wake of a reply given by the Health Minister to a submission in the Assembly stating that iron filings were found in ten samples taken from the domestic market.

The manufacturing methods applied for leaf (Orthodox) and dust (CTC) teas were different.In the Orthodox manufacturing process, the possibility of the presence of iron filings was rare whereas in the case of CTC, the presence of a certain percentage of iron filings was unavoidable, he said.

“It is for this reason that the Bureau of Indian Standards has prescribed a limit of 250 ppm of iron filings,” Mr. Ajit said.

He pointed out that the Committee on Legislation for Plantation Sector under the chairmanship of the Additional Secretary, Department of Commerce of the Union government, had in last September recommended that a similar maximum limit be inserted in the PFA Rules.

Mr. Ajit said that tea buyers as well as major blenders/packeteers had started refraining from operating on auction teas of gardens with more than the prescribed limit of iron filings.

The Tea Buyers Association, Kochi, had already requested the Tea Board and the Tea Trade Association of Kochi, stressing the need for subjecting the samples of all teas meant for auction sales to 100 per cent analysis as per PFA norms.

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