Harmful rare earth found in Lipton tea samples

BEIJING. November 11. KAZINFORM The consumer product giant Unilever said on Thursday that it had recalled and destroyed a batch of Lipton tea bags - one of its branded products - in response to the charge that they contained impurities. It said the product was taken off shelves in August, after an official spot check found it contained excessive residues from heavy metals; Kazinform refers to China Daily.

"We recalled and destroyed all the products of that batch in August," Unilever said in a statement sent to China Daily. The company received a disqualification notice from the country's top quality watchdog on Aug 5.

"We also screened other products and raw materials, and haven't found other batches with the same problem," reads the statement.

The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine published the result of a national spot check scanning 37 types of products, including food, agricultural and industrial production materials, on its website on Wednesday. The inspection of tea, which started in July, found 19 of the 58 product samples failed the national standard, especially for the residual amount of rare earth they contained.

Doctors said the substance can keep steadily accumulating in the human body, and that an excessive accumulation is likely to cause health problems.

"Experiments conducted on animals have suggested that an excessive intake of rare earth may trigger liver and bone damage," said Tan Guijun, deputy head of the nutrition department at Tianjin First Center Hospital.

The list of substandard products showed the measured value of rare earth in a Lipton tea sample - Tieguanyin tea produced on Jan 14, 2011, in Anhui province - was 3.4 milligrams for each kg. The national standard permits a maximum amount of 2.0.

The company denied the substance was artificially added.

"The rare earth comes from the soil where the tea grows. There is no possibility that it is added or generated automatically in the production and processing process," reads the company's statement.

But certain experts on fake goods in China said they believed Unilever could be lying; Kazinform cites China Daily.

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