Lipton accused of buying 'rough' tea
By Dong Zhen |
May 1, 2012, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
Lipton has been buying cheap and rough-quality tea leaves for years from Chinese growers who admit using powerful pesticides on their crops.
The revelation by a Xinhua news agency report is the latest episode in a pesticide scandal involving the world-famous brand and a slap in the face for some agriculture ministry officials who had defended the company, claiming that pesticide residue found in the tea could have been blown by the wind from other crops nearby.
Xinhua also accused Lipton of hiding problems from Chinese consumers as its investigation showed it had been warned by the national quality watchdog about tea bags containing excessive levels of a harmful metal last August. But Lipton deliberately held off announcing the result to the public for three months, Xinhua reported.
In a report released late last month, environmental organization Greenpeace said a third-party certified laboratory had tested Lipton tea bags bought in Beijing and the results showed that its jasmine tea, green tea and oolong tea contained residue of harmful pesticides.
Greenpeace said 17 types of pesticide were found in the samples, several of which were not approved in the European Union because they affected the male reproductive system and could harm the health of unborn babies.
However, the amount of residue identified was not excessive according to China's looser standards.
Shanghai Unilever Co Ltd, Lipton's owner, said in a statement that all their products had passed Chinese quality tests.
That statement did little to calm public fears and there was heated online discussion about the subject, culminating in the Xinhua investigation.
Xinhua said that farmers from tea plantations in southern Anhui Province had told it that Unilever purchased cheap-quality tea leaves cropped in summer and autumn. Compared to tea leaves harvested in spring, those sold to the brand were much rougher in quality. One supplier said Unilever's payment for such tea leaves was only 20 yuan per kilogram but the supplier kept doing business with Unilever because of the large amounts involved.
The problem of pests is always more serious in summer and autumn compared to other seasons and the growers said they had no choice but to use powerful pesticides, according to the report.
Xinhua said the national quality watchdog found on August 5 last year that Lipton oolong tea bag samples contained excessive level of tombarthite, a heavy metal that can cause kidney and liver problems. But it did not issue a public statement until three months later when it announced it had recalled the tea bags and destroyed them, Xinhua said.
The revelation by a Xinhua news agency report is the latest episode in a pesticide scandal involving the world-famous brand and a slap in the face for some agriculture ministry officials who had defended the company, claiming that pesticide residue found in the tea could have been blown by the wind from other crops nearby.
Xinhua also accused Lipton of hiding problems from Chinese consumers as its investigation showed it had been warned by the national quality watchdog about tea bags containing excessive levels of a harmful metal last August. But Lipton deliberately held off announcing the result to the public for three months, Xinhua reported.
In a report released late last month, environmental organization Greenpeace said a third-party certified laboratory had tested Lipton tea bags bought in Beijing and the results showed that its jasmine tea, green tea and oolong tea contained residue of harmful pesticides.
Greenpeace said 17 types of pesticide were found in the samples, several of which were not approved in the European Union because they affected the male reproductive system and could harm the health of unborn babies.
However, the amount of residue identified was not excessive according to China's looser standards.
Shanghai Unilever Co Ltd, Lipton's owner, said in a statement that all their products had passed Chinese quality tests.
That statement did little to calm public fears and there was heated online discussion about the subject, culminating in the Xinhua investigation.
Xinhua said that farmers from tea plantations in southern Anhui Province had told it that Unilever purchased cheap-quality tea leaves cropped in summer and autumn. Compared to tea leaves harvested in spring, those sold to the brand were much rougher in quality. One supplier said Unilever's payment for such tea leaves was only 20 yuan per kilogram but the supplier kept doing business with Unilever because of the large amounts involved.
The problem of pests is always more serious in summer and autumn compared to other seasons and the growers said they had no choice but to use powerful pesticides, according to the report.
Xinhua said the national quality watchdog found on August 5 last year that Lipton oolong tea bag samples contained excessive level of tombarthite, a heavy metal that can cause kidney and liver problems. But it did not issue a public statement until three months later when it announced it had recalled the tea bags and destroyed them, Xinhua said.
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