Pesticide residues in UK blue tea suspected of being blended tea, sources include Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and Taiwan, China

The well-known chain hand-shaken beverage shop British Blue recently voluntarily submitted 8 tea leaf ingredients from its product line for testing, and 6 of them were found to contain the pesticide fipronil residue, with the highest residue level reaching 0.01ppm. Investigation showed that among these 6 tea leaves, 3 originated from Taipei's Zhoujie Trading Company, and the other 3 came from Taichung's Datong Tea House. Local health authorities are investigating. Jiang Yumei, Director-General of the Food and Drug Administration under the Ministry of Health and Welfare, stated that according to a pre-arranged plan, local health authorities will be required to launch a joint inspection of chain hand-shaken cup shops by the end of April, with tea leaves as a key target.

Six British Blue tea leaves found with pesticide fipronil, residue exceeding the limit by 5 times

Hsu Hui-mei, Section Chief of the Food and Drug Administration of the Tainan City Health Bureau, stated that after British Blue reported the matter yesterday afternoon, the health bureau only received the test report faxed by the company in the evening. Among the 6 problem tea leaves, fipronil residue was detected in each, with residue values ranging from 0.003ppm to 0.01ppm. According to our country's standards, the maximum allowable fipronil pesticide residue is only 0.002ppm, so this batch of problem tea leaves had pesticide residue exceeding the limit by 5 times.

Following the detection of multiple pesticide residues in its rose ingredient, British Blue disclosed yesterday afternoon that its previously voluntarily submitted tea leaves had also tested positive for pesticide residue. After receiving the notice, the Tainan City Health Bureau conducted a preventive recall of the problem tea leaves and sealed the ingredients in accordance with the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation, and ordered British Blue to suspend operations.

Upstream supplier suspected of blending tea, sources include: Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Taiwan