Pune's Famous Yewale Tea Adulterated With Dye, Says Govt. Run Lab Report!

Last year, Yewale Amruttulya made headlines for making a whopping 12 lakhs a month. This time around, its back in the news but not for the right reasons. Read on...

Pune's famous tea shop, Yewale Amruttulya, which has several branches in the city has come under the radar of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The authorities found the collected samples were adulterated. As per the lab reports, synthetic colour was found which was used to dye the tea powder. The samples were sent almost a month ago to a government run food lab in Mysuru, Karnataka.

Synthetic dye by the name of tartrazine was used and is harmful to one's health and banned as per the safety rules. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), 2011, regulation 2.10.1 (1) on tea says, “The product shall be free from extraneous matter, added colouring matter and harmful substances.” This is not the first time that Yewale has been under the scanner, earlier in September 2019, the Yewale Food Products factory in Katraj was given a stop work notice. The FDA found products like sugar, tea masala, tea powder under its name which had no details like manufacturing date, expiry date, content details. These weren't checked by FSSAI-approved laboratory. Samples of these products had been sent for testing which came back with these results. 

"There are no provisions for use of colour in tea in the FSSAI guidelines, as it would lead to food safety and health problems. The colour has been used to make the tea look more attractive. There are some colours which are non-toxic and permitted by FSSAI to be used in products like sweets and fruit juices. FSSAI permits use of eight synthetic colours in specfood items and tea is not included in that list,” aid Suresh Deshmukh, joint commissioner, FDA, Pune region.
Spokesperson of Yewale  Food products, Apla Kandgule, has denied these claims. “We follow the food safety standards and rules, and samples re sent by us to laboratories routinely to get a quality check. The FDA has earlier conducted an inspection at our centre, during which the samples were sent to the lab. The reports of these labs are clear and we are unaware aboutthe lab reports form Mysuru,” she said.

News Source: Pune Mirror