‘State to set up task force, lab to protect Darjeeling tea’
Times of India | 20 May 2025
123 Siliguri/Kolkata: Raising concerns over the mixing of Darjeeling tea with other low-quality teas, CM Mamata Banerjee said on Monday that the state would set up a lab to check these occurrences."We are setting up a task force for this as well," she added. The issue was raised by Luxmi Group managing director Rudra Chatterjee, who ownsMakaibari Tea Estate in Darjeeling.Tea from Nepal, often cheaper and grown at similar altitudes, is being blended with Darjeeling tea and sold as the latter, potentially diluting its unique flavour and quality and affecting its reputation. Darjeeling tea has a GI tag.The CM emphasised the urgent need to establish a strong brand identity for Darjeeling tea, as teas from other countries were being falsely marketed under its name. She appointed Chatterjee to lead a committee dedicated to the branding and protection of authentic Darjeeling tea."Fifty years ago, this used to happen in Germany. We at Makaibari are branding our tea. But there is a need for the entire Darjeeling tea to be branded," Chatterjee told TOI. He said all 87 operating gardens in Darjeeling should have its own brand. The total production of Darjeeling tea is around 7 million kg. Apart from Makaibari, only a few other gardens there have branded tea.Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, in an order dated April 23, 2024, had mandated that all imported teas needed to be subjected to full and accurate testing per FSSAI pr-otocol. "Cheap, duty-free dumping of low-quality and FSSAI non-compliant teas from Nepal has turned the Darjeeling tea industry into an ICU patient," a tea expert said.