Is it safe to drink tea with flowers?

Make a cup of rose tea for beauty and drink a cup of chrysanthemum tea to clear the fire. The weather is getting hot, urban youth, especially female white-collar workers set off a fashion upsurge of drinking fresh tea beauty, honeysuckle, roses, peonies, gong chrysanthemum, lilies and so on can all be brewed. However, the reporter learned that while these substitute teas, which are like tea rather than tea, are selling well, they have also become a blank in health supervision.

There are taboos in drinking substitute tea.

Yesterday, when the reporter visited the professional tea wholesale market, he learned that all kinds of scented tea were very popular. Merchants say that as a substitute tea, fresh scented tea has the effect of clearing fire and nourishing beauty, and the demand for these substitute teas increases gradually as the temperature rises. In the shopping malls and supermarkets in the city center, the reporter also found that all kinds of substitute tea were placed in a conspicuous position by merchants, classifying them into small bags to facilitate citizens to choose and buy.

The so-called substitute tea refers to the use of edible plant leaves, flowers, fruits, roots and other raw materials for processing, using similar brewing methods for people to drink products. At present, substitute tea is mainly divided into leaves, flowers and fruits. Leaves include ginkgo tea, mulberry leaf tea, mint tea, etc.; scented tea includes chrysanthemum, jasmine, rose, honeysuckle and so on; fruits include mugi-cha, Chinese wolfberry, fat sea, Luohanguo, cassia seed and so on.

Traditional Chinese medicine experts told reporters that substitute tea and tea drink in the same way, but compared with tea, there is still a big difference between the two: tea can be drunk by anyone, and some substitute tea, as traditional Chinese medicine, is restricted. For example, Kuding tea has taboos, people with spleen and stomach deficiency and cold constitution of honeysuckle should not take it; peach blossoms and safflower tend to bleed should not be taken. The reporter interviewed several consumers at random and found that no one knew that substitute tea also had a "taboo on drinking".

Not subject to the "QS" regulations

Since January 1, 2007, the national quality supervision department stipulates that tea products must be affixed with the "QS" (product quality) mark. However, alternative teas such as chrysanthemum tea, mugi-cha, Kuding tea and gynostemma pentaphyllum tea are not restricted by this regulation. Therefore, at present, most of the substitute tea producers have no specific standards, and there are no corresponding requirements for the quality and hygiene standards of substitute tea. Substitute tea, which is not in the scope of "QS" certification, seems to be out of the supervision's "vision". When the reporter visited the supermarket and part of the tea market, he found that this kind of substitute tea on the market was basically in bulk, some businesses were scattered in glass cases, and some were even spread out on metal plates, and many consumers directly selected all kinds of flowers substitute tea on the plate by hand, and the health condition was not optimistic. On the other hand, all kinds of sub-packaged substitute tea in the supermarket are only packaged by the shopping malls themselves, and simply indicate the product name and packaging time on the packaging, and there is no information about hygiene standards, shelf life and so on.

A relevant person from the Tea Association said that at present, many tea merchants only produce and sell a small part of substitute tea "by the way" while producing tea, and few large manufacturers specialize in producing substitute tea. At present, most of the substitute tea in the market is produced and sold by some retail investors, coupled with the low threshold to enter the market, so it is difficult to guarantee the quality.

The first "Standard" Jian Zhi substitute Tea Hygiene

The reporter learned that Beijing's first "hygienic requirements for substitute tea" local standards (hereinafter referred to as "standards") have been implemented since February 1 this year. For the first time, the Standard made mandatory provisions on the limits of harmful substances and microbial indicators in substitute tea, such as lead, mercury, aflatoxin B1, total BHC, etc. for the first time become the compulsory inspection items of substitute tea, and set a detailed limit standard. It is also clear that Staphylococcus aureus, Shigella and Salmonella can not be detected in substitute tea, and the total number of Escherichia coli and colonies is also strictly limited. During the inspection, any of the items such as mildew, moth, odor, etc., that do not meet the standard will not be qualified.

Industry insiders believe that although the "standard" is only a local standard in Beijing, its positive significance is to arouse people's attention to the hygienic conditions of substitute tea, make up for the gap in the supervision of such products, and promote the healthy and orderly development of the industry. it is also conducive to protecting the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. As similar standards have not yet been introduced in Hong Kong, members of the public should choose substitute tea carefully.