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Pesticides found in organic tea

TT/Peter Vinthagen Simpson
TT/Peter Vinthagen Simpson - [email protected]
Pesticides found in organic tea

Green herb teas are habitually marketed as offering additional health benefits. But eight of ten popular brands contain chemicals that can be hazardous to health, according to a new analysis by the company Testfakta.

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Among the teas tested by the firm include one organic brand, Kung Markatta, which was found to contain traces of poisonous pesticides banned by the EU, according to media reports.

"We have decided to halt all sales of the tea from our stocks," said Peter Engberg at Kung Markatta to Östgöta Correspondenten.

The organic branding organisation Krav has decided to immediately withdraw its classification of the tea.

"We consider this matter to be very serious as the Krav label stands for production without the use of pesticides," Kristin Cooper at Krav told Dagens Nyheter.

Testfakta tested nine other brands and found traces of pesticide chemicals such as Cypermethrin, Ethion, Deltamethrin as well as substances banned by the EU such as Biphenyl and Azinphos-methyl.

Aside from the Kung Markatta tea the levels found in other brands tested did not exceed Swedish Food Administration (Livsmedelsverket) limits and so no action will be taken.

The only brand in the test found to be free from pesticides was Clipper with tea grown in India and China.

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