Is it really safe to drink fresh flowers as tea?

Brewing a cup of rose tea for beauty, or drinking a cup of chrysanthemum tea to clear heat. As the weather gradually gets hotter, urban young people, especially female white-collar workers, have set off a fashionable trend of drinking flower tea for beauty, and honeysuckle, roses, peonies, tribute chrysanthemums, lilies and others can all be brewed. But reporters have learned that while these tea-like but not actually tea substitute teas are selling well, they have also become a blank spot in health supervision.

Substitute teas have drinking contraindications

Yesterday, when reporters visited a specialized tea wholesale market, they learned that all kinds of flower teas were selling very well. Merchants said that as substitute teas, flower teas have the effect of clearing heat and nourishing the complexion, and as temperatures rise, demand for these substitute teas is gradually increasing. In shopping malls and supermarkets in the city center, reporters also found that various substitute teas were placed by merchants in prominent positions, sorted into small packets by category for the convenience of residents' selection.

So-called substitute teas refer to products made from the leaves, flowers, fruits, roots and stems of edible plants as raw materials and processed for people to drink by a brewing method similar to tea. At present, substitute teas are mainly divided into leaf types, flower types and fruit types. Leaf types include ginkgo tea, mulberry leaf tea, mint tea, etc.; flower types include chrysanthemum, jasmine, rose, honeysuckle, etc.; fruit types include barley tea, goji berries, boat sterculia seed, monk fruit, cassia seed, etc.

Traditional Chinese medicine experts told reporters that substitute teas are drunk in the same way as tea leaves, but compared with tea leaves, the difference between the two is still very large: tea can be drunk by anyone, while some substitute teas, as traditional Chinese medicines, have restrictions. For example, kuding tea has groups of people for whom it is contraindicated, honeysuckle is not suitable for people with a spleen-stomach deficiency-cold constitution; peach blossom and safflower are not suitable for people with bleeding tendencies. Reporters randomly interviewed several consumers and found that not one person knew that substitute teas also have "drinking contraindications."

Not subject to "QS" regulation restrictions

Starting from January 1, 2007, the national quality supervision department stipulated that tea products must bear the "QS" (product quality) mark. However, substitute teas such as chrysanthemum tea, barley tea, kuding tea and gynostemma tea are not subject to this regulation. Therefore, most current substitute tea producers use the absence of specific standards as a reason, and there are no corresponding requirements for the quality and hygiene standards of substitute teas either. Substitute teas outside the scope of "QS" certification seem to have escaped the "eye of the law" of supervision. When reporters visited supermarkets and some tea markets, they found that @#@136@#@ of such substitute teas on the market were basically sold in bulk, with some merchants placing them loosely in glass containers, and some even spreading them out on metal trays. Many consumers directly used their hands to pick various flower-type substitute teas placed on the trays, and the hygiene conditions were not optimistic. As for the various pre-packaged substitute teas in supermarkets, they were merely packaged by the stores themselves, with only the product name and packaging time simply noted on the packaging, and no information at all about hygiene standards, shelf life, etc.

Relevant personnel from the tea association introduced that at present many tea merchants only produce and sell a small portion of substitute teas "on the side" while producing tea, and very few large manufacturers specialize in producing substitute teas. Currently, most substitute teas on the market are produced and sold by small individual operators, and because the threshold for entering the market is low, "quality is therefore very difficult to guarantee."

The first "standard" targets the hygiene of substitute teas

Reporters learned that Beijing's first local standard, "Hygienic Requirements for Substitute Teas" (hereinafter referred to as the "Standard"), began implementation on February 1 this year. For the first time, the "Standard" made mandatory provisions on limits of harmful substances and microbiological indicators in substitute teas. For example, lead, mercury, aflatoxin B1, and total BHC became mandatory inspection items for substitute teas for the first time, and detailed limit standards were stipulated. It also clearly stated that three kinds of pathogenic bacteria, including Staphylococcus aureus, Shigella and Salmonella, must not be detected in substitute teas, and strict limits were also set for Escherichia coli and the total number of colonies. During inspection, if any one item such as mold, insect damage, or abnormal odor fails to meet the standard, it is considered unqualified.

Industry insiders believe that although the "Standard" is only a local standard for Beijing, its positive significance lies in arousing people's attention to the hygiene conditions of substitute teas, filling the blank area in supervision of such products, promoting the healthy and orderly development of the industry, and also helping to protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. Because no similar standard has yet been issued locally, residents should choose carefully when selecting substitute teas.