Center

World Cup helps tea makers

By Qiu Quanlin (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-07-04 08:29

Guangzhou will establish a herbal tea testing centre aimed at protecting the quality of herbal tea ingredients.

Through testing, the centre, which is expected to be completed in January next year, will help protect the industry, said Zhang Junxiu, chairman of the Guangdong Food Profession Association.

"It means that companies with a history of less than 80 years that lack historically and culturally significant recipes, or that produce herbal teas that fail to conform to standard procedures, may be banned," Zhang told China Daily.

He added details of standard ingredients used in herbal tea products would be issued later this year.

There are some private brands that use Western medicinal ingredients in their products, said Zhang.

He said this reduced the effectiveness of herbal tea, which is usually made from traditional Chinese medicinal herbs.

"As herbal tea is usually combined with traditional Chinese medicine, those that use Western medicines will probably not have a big impact," Zhang said.

Some herbal tea outlets have met other problems, such as poor hygiene standards.

"Some producers do not wash their herbs after they buy them, and they also sometimes have unprofessional employees who know little about how to make herbal tea or how to guide buyers," Zhang said.

He added that herbal teas with sub-standard materials could harm people's health.

The new criteria will strictly specify materials, techniques, sanitation standards and testing procedures for herbal tea making, according to Zhang.

"We hope the new criteria will help protect legal brands and boost their development, as well to expand herbal tea drinking across the world," Zhang said.