TWG Teas plays down pesticide scare

Osim International subsidiary, upmarket tea chain TWG, is playing down a pesticide report in Taiwan.

Taiwan’s Food and Drug Administration says it found excessive levels of pesticide residues in TWG’s Chamomile Green Tea sourced from India.

TWG has retail stores in Singapore, Malaysia, Japan Cambodia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea and the Philippines, China, Indonesia and Thailand as well as in Europe, and sells packaged teas online. It positions itself as a high end, gourmet tea brand.

But a TWG Tea spokeswoman Maranda Barnes told The Business Times the issue has been “overblown” by Hong Kong media, and consumers in Singapore, Hong Kong, China and Taiwan had nothing to be concerned about.

She said the Chamomile Green Tea had passed tests by Singapore authorities, but been rejected by the Taiwan FDA.

Barnes said tea leaves in Taiwan are tested in the same way as fresh fruit and vegetables designed to be chewed and swallowed – yet if a residue was present in a tea leaf it would be infinitely diluted when infused as tea is designed to be drunk.

She said it was impossible to test every tea for every one of 300 pesticides in existence.

“We put our teas through a battery of tests. Unfortunately, we cannot test for every single chemical in the world in every batch. In Taiwan, even if a product was rejected and sent back, the government will promote the rejection through the media.”

TWG is in ongoing discussions with Taiwan’s FDA regarding the test results.