Quality of tea

The quality of tea produced in India has become a matter of increasing concern in the past few days. It was only a few months ago that the Tea Board issued directions to all tea producers and sellers to strictly comply with the quality norms of the food safety regulator FSSAI before selling their products. The Tea Board had in June this year also cautioned that tea consignments which fail on Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) test parameters should be out from the warehouse until receipt of the views of brokers and further direction of Tea Board in the matter. Meanwhile, in order to ensure that the quality of tea manufactured in Assam does not suffer, Tea Board has announced deadlines for the cessation of plucking of tea leaves. Accordingly, the plucking of tea leaves should come to a close every year by December 10 in the Brahmaputra Valley and by December 17 in the Barak Valley. Tea Board has announced that the processing of tea – including sorting, gapping, packing etc – should henceforth end by December 25 every year. In the case of CTC and Orthodox teas, the processing deadline has been fixed on December 29. It is important to note that these deadlines of the Tea Board have been announced against the backdrop of a section of international buyers complaining of a decline in the standard of Indian tea in recent times. Needless to mention, the bulk of tea produced in India is manufactured in Assam. There has been a quantum jump in the production of tea in Assam in recent years, and the state currently produces around 700 million kg of tea per annum. Of this, while small tea growers contribute around 50 per cent, the bigger manufacturers also produce an almost equal quantity. While tea is plucked in four cycles – first, second, monsoon and autumn flushes, tea leaves stop growing during the winter season. A section of growers then allegedly resort to indiscriminate plucking of leaves despite the absence of tender ones, in the process causing deterioration in quality.