PUNE: The tea sipped with much pleasure is most certainly contaminated with iron filings. While the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) allowed the presence of 150 mg per kg as a temporary limit for iron particles in tea powder some time ago, it decided to extend this limit for another six months on November 21.
The limit will be reviewed after the Hyderabad-based National Institution of Nutrition's study on the presence of iron filings in tea is complete and an FSSAI panel's assessment.
The regulator has ordered its enforcement staff in all the states not to lodge prosecution cases against tea companies if iron filings are within this prescribed limit. Tea contains iron filings due to the friction of the machinery used in its processing.
The presence of iron filings in tea has been under the authority's lens for some time. Last year, the regulatory admitted that zero presence of iron filings is not possible in tea. Traders want the Tea Board of India to make the right noises to increase the limit to 500 mg per kg.
Food and Drug Authority officials in Pune have decided send a few samples of loose and packaged tea sold in the city to a laboratory to check if they have iron filings beyond the permissible limit. Safety-conscious countries have permissible levels of filings between 120 mg per kg and 500 mg per kg.
Shashikant Kekare, joint commissioner (drug), FDA, Pune said the manner in which tea is processed is to be blamed for the presence of iron filings. "Tea powder may have some iron filings in it because leaves are crushed and processed and chances of fine iron particles being released from the crushing machinery and sticking to the tea grains cannot be ruled out," Kekare said
Tea leaves are dried in a sieve fitted with a mesh and leaves are crushed using iron rollers. "Factories use huge magnets to remove iron filings from tea powder, but some particles may be left behind," said Dilip Sangat, assistant commissioner (food), FDA.
Iron in human bodies carries oxygen for haemoglobin. "But any overload can be a causative factor in liver cirrhosis, osteoporosis, scurvy, diabetes, heart failure, oesophageal cancer and infections," said an internal medicine expert.
Signs and symptoms of iron overload are non-specific. Hence, a physician faced with common findings like chronic fatigue, joint pain, osteoporosis and diabetes must look for iron overload. Inexpensive diagnostic tests that show the overload are ferritin levels and transferrin saturation.
BOX
The limit will be reviewed after the Hyderabad-based National Institution of Nutrition's study on the presence of iron filings in tea is complete and an FSSAI panel's assessment.
The regulator has ordered its enforcement staff in all the states not to lodge prosecution cases against tea companies if iron filings are within this prescribed limit. Tea contains iron filings due to the friction of the machinery used in its processing.
The presence of iron filings in tea has been under the authority's lens for some time. Last year, the regulatory admitted that zero presence of iron filings is not possible in tea. Traders want the Tea Board of India to make the right noises to increase the limit to 500 mg per kg.
Food and Drug Authority officials in Pune have decided send a few samples of loose and packaged tea sold in the city to a laboratory to check if they have iron filings beyond the permissible limit. Safety-conscious countries have permissible levels of filings between 120 mg per kg and 500 mg per kg.
Shashikant Kekare, joint commissioner (drug), FDA, Pune said the manner in which tea is processed is to be blamed for the presence of iron filings. "Tea powder may have some iron filings in it because leaves are crushed and processed and chances of fine iron particles being released from the crushing machinery and sticking to the tea grains cannot be ruled out," Kekare said
Tea leaves are dried in a sieve fitted with a mesh and leaves are crushed using iron rollers. "Factories use huge magnets to remove iron filings from tea powder, but some particles may be left behind," said Dilip Sangat, assistant commissioner (food), FDA.
Iron in human bodies carries oxygen for haemoglobin. "But any overload can be a causative factor in liver cirrhosis, osteoporosis, scurvy, diabetes, heart failure, oesophageal cancer and infections," said an internal medicine expert.
Signs and symptoms of iron overload are non-specific. Hence, a physician faced with common findings like chronic fatigue, joint pain, osteoporosis and diabetes must look for iron overload. Inexpensive diagnostic tests that show the overload are ferritin levels and transferrin saturation.
BOX
The order
In continuation of the statutory advisory regarding the limit of iron filings in tea that 150 mg per kg issued on May 23, 2014, it has been decided to extend the timeline up to May 23, 2015. The order has been issued with the approval of the competent authority by virtue of power conferred on FSSAI under 16 (5) of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006
S Dave, FSSAI advisor in a statutory advisory issued to the enforcement staff on November 21
Strange Brew
* The continuous presence of iron filings in tea has raised safety concerns and there have been many demands to fix an upper limit
* In the absence of standards so far, tea manufacturers do not mention the extent of contamination by iron filings
* Iron filings enter tea dust due to wear and tear of the machinery, but the problem is noticed even in new machinery
* Many developed countries have fixed the maximum level for iron filings in tea at 120 mg/kg, the Indian limit is slightly higher
* The limit is as high as 500 mg/kg in poor countries. Sri Lanka allows up to 200 mg of iron filings per kg
In continuation of the statutory advisory regarding the limit of iron filings in tea that 150 mg per kg issued on May 23, 2014, it has been decided to extend the timeline up to May 23, 2015. The order has been issued with the approval of the competent authority by virtue of power conferred on FSSAI under 16 (5) of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006
S Dave, FSSAI advisor in a statutory advisory issued to the enforcement staff on November 21
Strange Brew
* The continuous presence of iron filings in tea has raised safety concerns and there have been many demands to fix an upper limit
* In the absence of standards so far, tea manufacturers do not mention the extent of contamination by iron filings
* Iron filings enter tea dust due to wear and tear of the machinery, but the problem is noticed even in new machinery
* Many developed countries have fixed the maximum level for iron filings in tea at 120 mg/kg, the Indian limit is slightly higher
* The limit is as high as 500 mg/kg in poor countries. Sri Lanka allows up to 200 mg of iron filings per kg
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