DIBRUGARH, Nov 26 � The Assam Bought Leaf Tea Manufacturers� Association (ABLTMA) and the All India Manufacturers� Organisation (AIMO � Tea Division) have welcomed the provisions of the Plant Protection Code, as notified by the Tea Board of India, so that safe teas are made available to consumers.
The members of the two organisations unanimously agreed that the implementation of the Plant Protection Code should be the exclusive responsibility of the estates and small tea growers as the factories do not use any chemicals during the manufacture of teas. The bought leaf factories should not be made to store hazardous chemicals as this requires licensing and has issues related to taxation, the two tea manufacturing organisations stated in a joint release after its meeting at the Gymkhana Club here yesterday.
The bought leaf tea associations have also welcomed the Tea Board of India�s introduction of the Trustea Code, but they said that if the Tea Board of India was unable to carry out the tagging of growers with the factories, achieving traceability would be difficult. The meeting suggested that for all the factories � both estate and bought leaf � a �Good Manufacturing Practices� Code should be notified by the Tea Board of India and the factories should also comply with the provisions of iron filings in teas.
On the determination of the price of green tea leaves, the associations sought to invite suggestions from members for developing an equitable price sharing formula with the growers so that the same can be placed for discussions with the grower associations and the Tea Board of India.
