OOTY: Mr S. Manoharan, president of the Coonoor Consumer Protection Association, said that a stringent monitoring mechanism is needed to check adulteration in tea.
“Tea is being marketed as a refreshing beverage with a host of health properties. It is said that some people are involved in mixing colorants to tea to create an impression that strongly coloured tea is the original tea with strength. These artificial colorants and other adulterants put the health of the consumer at risk. If adulteration is not curbed, it will affect the health of the community,” Mr Manoharan warned.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) should be strengthened in the Nilgiris to ensure that every taluk in Nilgiris has a full fledged FSSAI wing to monitor tea production and sales route to curb adulteration at the source itself. The FSSAI and also the Tea Board should also keep an eye on the quality of tea in roadside shops, eateries and hotels to track wholesale dealers who indulge in adulteration, Mr Manoharan suggested.
Meanwhile, Mr Manjai V. Mohan, president of the Baduga Desa Party (BDP), a local political outfit here, said that even today the Tea Board sends samples of suspected adulterated tea to laboratories in metro cities. This takes a long time, so the Tea Board should establish a sophisticated laboratory in the Nilgiris for quick analysis of the samples. If the samples prove positive, the culprits should be booked immediately and a case filed in a fast track court,” Mr Mohan suggested.
