750 kg spurious tea seized in Coimbatore

Very poor quality tea dust is suspected to have been mixed with a chemical

Food safety officers have seized 750 kg spurious tea from a house-cum-warehouse on Gandhipuram Third Street on Tuesday.

Following instructions from Collector M. Karunagaran, a team of officers guided by Designated Officer, Food Safety, R. Kathiravan raided the house and found 750 kg spurious tea.

Food safety officer K. Chandran said that K.V. Suresh, who had taken on rent the house, had been engaged in the business for quite sometime.

He bought very poor quality tea dust, mixed with a chemical that lent colour and made it appear as if it was good quality tea.

Mr. Chandran said that they learnt that one Hakim supplied the chemical.

Food safety officers R. Govindarajan and G. Gerald accompanied Mr. Chandran.

Samples

In the presence of Revenue Department officials, they lifted samples to be sent for testing.

Meanwhile, they had asked the Collector to instruct the police to nab Hakim.

Mr. Chandran also said that Suresh had sold the tea under the ‘Three Star’ label in the city and its periphery.