Tea board issues show cause notice to 30 factories

Tea Board has issued show cause notices to 30 tea factories in The Nilgiris for various deviations from legal requirements.

Tea Board’s Executive Director, M Balaji, said that the Board’s officials undertook inspection in 43 factories during the last two months. Show cause notices have since been issued to 30 of these factories for various deviations, he said.

“These deviations included lack of quality leaf procurement, poor hygiene standards, non-maintenance of statutory records, holding of tea waste beyond permissible level, procurement of bought leaf beyond the permissible limit, purchase of tea from other factories and non-adherence to Price Sharing Formula”, he said.

These factories have been given statutory time and necessary action will be taken after receipt of their reply as per the provisions laid out in the Tea (Marketing) Control Order, 2003 and Tea Waste (Control) Order, 1959, he said.

Balaji said that the Tea Board conducts periodical inspection in tea factories to monitor the compliance to the quality and hygiene standards set by the Board.