Producers adulterating Ceylon tea: State Minister for Plantations

By Ashwin Hemmathagama – Our Lobby Correspondent

Adulterating the legendary Ceylon tea exported to 131 countries around the world has become a key issue, the Government confirmed at Parliament yesterday. The use of chemical substances such as ferrous sulphate and adding sugar to tea are some of the common methods used to adulterate tea, which gets rejected at auctions – a black mark for Sri Lanka. 

According to the Ministry of Plantation Industries, a number of tea factories have been identified for adulterating their tea before sending it to the auctions. State Minister of Plantation Industries A. D. Champika Premadasa held that the Tea Research Institute has developed a measuring unit for the purpose, and its recommendations are to be made to the Sri Lanka Tea Board to control the adulterating of tea.

The producers found guilty for adulterating tea will get suspended and their factory registrations will be taken away for a considerable period. “Cancellation of the registration of the factories and producing for a judicial action on the powers vested with the Tea Commissioner,” the State Minister said. 

Sri Lankan tea of export quality must comply with the ISO 3720 standard.

In 2017, Sri Lanka exported 288.9 million metric tons of tea, bringing in much-wanted foreign exchange to Sri Lanka.

About 4,000 tea samples of 12,000 tea lots weekly produced at the Colombo Tea Auction will be sent to the tea tasters to identify quality issues. As a result, the low-quality teas will be removed from the auction and will also be sent for laboratory tests to ensure the decision taken. “The samples obtained from the stores of exporters at the time of exportation will be forwarded to the tea tasters and a quality assurance for tea will be obtained. The samples of tea containers carried to the harbour will be checked via standard methods by the Office of Sri Lanka Tea Board at the premises of Sri Lanka Customs, and the quality will be ensured. It will be examined whether the good manufacturing practices are adopted by the stores of exporters,” State Minister Champika Premadasa explained.