Organic rose tea bags tested positive for pesticides; flower farmers cry foul as certification company samples for retesting
After a suspected pesticide residue issue was reported in organic roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa) from Taitung, yesterday (the 4th) the Taipei City Health Department announced the results of spot checks on flower teas on the market, among which a rose flower tea bag used by Rose Lady was found to contain the pesticide naled at 0.09 ppm, a residue that must not be present (the testing standard is "not detectable"). Because the tea bag came from Shandu Organic Farm in Nantou, the producer claimed the roses were organically cultivated and also presented a self-submitted pesticide test report showing no residue; the certification body said it would prepare to take samples for retesting, and the Council of Agriculture said it was looking into the situation.
The tea bag came from Shandu Organic Farm in Puli, Nantou. Because the person in charge had just passed away and inheritance procedures had not yet been completed, the farm is currently being run by long-time employees. The long-time employee said the rose raw material made into the tea bags was inspected by the Council of Agriculture and Global International Certification Company; the farm sent the raw material out for processing into tea bags and packaging, but the processing end did not apply for certification; in other words, the farm's organic certification scope was limited to cultivation through the growth of fresh roses, and low-temperature-dried dried petals.
Xie Qingzhou of Global Certification Company, which handled the inspection, said Shandu Organic Farm is an independent site and is unlikely to have problems with neighboring contamination; and over the past 5 years, the 1.7 hectares certified had no cases of non-compliance. Samples of the farm's fresh roses and dried petals have now been taken for retesting, and results will not be available until next week at the earliest.
Shandu Farm Organic Certificate
