The Deccan Chronicle 27.09.2009

300 kg tea seized, destroyed in city

Chennai
Sept. 26: It was something similar to the Boston tea party except that the tea seized and destroyed by the city corporation on Saturday was adulterated.

The tea bags were seized from godowns and provision stores by health officials of the city corporation. At the end of the day-long drive about 300 kg of adulterated tea powder was seized and destroyed in the garbage dumping grounds.

Acting on a report of rampant sales of spurious tea powder in Chennai, the health officials raided several shops and godowns in Tondiarpet, Sowcarpet, Perambur, Ayanavaram, Anna Nagar, Triplicane, Chepauk, Mylapore,

Nungambakkam, Kodambakkam, Saidapet, Adyar and Tiruvanmiyur. Simultaneous raids by teams comprising food and sanitary inspectors across the city helped the corporation to destroy adulterated tea bags valued around Rs 50,000, sources said.

The food inspectors have also collected 113 samples of suspected spurious tea powders from different places for tests. Based on the results, further action would be taken under the Food Adulteration Act.