Green Tea from China: A Health Hazard?

[beforewisdom]

Granted, this news story is 17 months old, but still, FWIW leave it to the Chinese business sector to turn a healthy product like green tea into a health hazard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcogrRCK ... grec_index

[IPT]

Can you please tell me what it says? I can't open Youtube here.

[beforewisdom]

Can you please tell me what it says? I can't open Youtube here.

Again, the story is over a year old. It was from a news show in New Zealand. The youtube video has a long written summary:

Green tea is well known world wide for its health benefits. Scientific research leads to the conclusion that it can help to fight virus's, slow aging and even cure depression, but as our reporter discovers the latest batch of Green Tea imported from China into New Zealand could have the opposite effect.

STORY:
Its 9am, time for a cup of tea right? Sounds pretty harmless but what if this cup of tea was your last?

The New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) is warning people not to consume in any way seeds that may be found in a Chinese green tea. This product is sold under various brand names such as Heng Ming and Canton Love Pea tea. It is widely availed through out Asian supermarkets and Eastern medicine outlets.

[Geoff Allan, New Zealand Food Safety Authority]:
"If you consumed the seeds themselves, the toxins within the seeds are very poisonous and a small amount of that could very well prove to be fatal."

The tea was pulled from the shelves when an inspector found that its contents did not match what was written in the ingredients. It contained toxic pods that had not been removed. The product is now being withdrawn from sale and recalled by the importer.

But why is there such a huge amount of faulty and dangerous goods being produced in China? Let's go to our New York studio now to hear from China Dr Sean Linn, NTD China Analyst. Sean, can you tell us a bit more about why this is happening?

[Dr. Sean Lin, NTD China Analyst]:
"The Green Tea product that has been recalled this time, is supposed to be a dried leaf product of a plant called Abrus Cantoniensis. It should be common knowledge to the manufacturer that the leaf is beneficial for the stomach and liver but the seed is very poisonous. So obviously this time it is very poor product safety control, because even one single round of product safety should be able to identify that this seed is mixed with the green leaf."

Poisonous foods that hit western shores are but a drop in the ocean in comparison with what consumers have to deal with.

According to the editorial The Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party written by the Epoch Times a manufacturer from Henan Province produced thousands of tons of cooking oil every month using materials containing carcinogens such as waste oil, oil extracted from left-over meals, or industrial bi products that contained residual oils.

And it doesn't end there, food manufactures mix industrial alcohol with drinking wine, polish rice using industrial shortenings, and whiten bread flour with industrial brightening agents.

Dangerous goods keep coming out of China but this time it was discovered before any damage occurred.

NTD will continue to bring you further coverage on this issue. This is Gina Shakespear, NTD, New Zealand.

[entropyembrace]

just another scare article to try and attack Chinese products imo

First the headline is total crap...it´s not green tea that´s a health hazard it´s a tisane made from the leaves of a plant with toxic seed pods and there is poor separation of the seeds from the leaves during manufacturing. So it seems to me they´re trying to attack Chinese exports of Camellia Sinensis tea by making the association to it...but the real issue is Abrus Cantoniensis tisanes....a totally different plant!

Then they go on to list a bunch of cases of toxic chemical adulterants being added to Chinese food products (which is again another issue considering the plant in question has useful leaves but toxic seeds so it´s a natural problem stemming from the use of Abrus Cantoniensis)...just to make you really afraid of anything from China.

Anyway....I´ll happily drink any decent quality Chinese Green Tea...because it´s Camellia Sinensis and not Abrus Cantoniensis I shouldn´t have to worry about a stray seed which wasn´t separated after harvesting.

[bagua7]

just another scare article to try and attack Chinese products imo...

+1

[teaisme]

Can you please tell me what it says? I can't open Youtube here.

You use proxy ipt?