Tea traders demand hiking limit for iron filings in tea

Tea traders have sought support from the Tea Board of India to push for increasing iron filing limit in tea from the present 150 mg per kg to 500 mg per kg.

According to Federation of All India Tea Traders Association (FAITTA), preliminary findings of a recent study by the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Hyderabad has revealed that Iron filings, found in tea samples causes no injury to human body even if it is 2 to 5 times more than the permissible limits.

However, as the report by NIN is yet to be finalized and submitted to the Tea Board, the preliminary information has suggested optimism for tea traders, who are faced with allegations of tea adulteration and repeated rejection of tea consignment due to higher quantum of iron filing than permissible limit.

FAITTA has written a letter on December 7, to the chairman of Tea Board of India seeking support to push for increased limit of iron filing.

"First time it has been proven on record after completion of nearly all study tests that sporadic appearance of Iron filings some time while conducting test in Tea is not a result of any adulteration and causes no injury to human body even if there is more than 2 to 5 times more iron filling than current permissible limits," Harendra Shah, chairman, FAITTA wrote in the letter.

Last year, after a prolonged discussion on the matter, central food regulator, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) had fixed 150 mg per kg as temporary permissible limit, which would be modified after the NIN's final report.

"The traders had to suffer a lot due to lower limit of iron filing. Lot of our consignments got rejected and there were instances of allegations of adulteration in tea. This is hurting the overall tea industry," said a tea industry source.

Presence of iron filings in tea had raised health concerns of contamination of tea due to higher presence of iron filing.

Industry sources revealed that many developed countries have a maximum permissible level of 120 mg per kg for iron filings, slightly lower than India. However, the limit is 500 mg per kg in poor countries, while in Sri Lanka the same is up to 200 mg per kg.