Hyd police bust tea powder adulteration racket in Begum Bazar, arrest 1

Hyderabad: The police busted an adulterated tea powder manufacturing unit at Feelkhana, Begum Bazar, on Saturday, arrested one person, and seized raw materials worth Rs. 6 lakh.

The arrested person has been identified as Vishnu Gopal Tiwari (54), the owner of Srinath Agencies Tea Powder. The police seized 218 bags of raw material (35 kg bag each) used to make tea powder, two bags of adulterated tea powder (each 20 kg), two liters of liquid chemical, and several other items.

Tiwari was adulterating tea powder by mixing different flavors of tea with chemicals, suspected to be Tatrazine, for extra taste and color. The adulterated tea was packed in small 250 gram packets and 5 kg bags under different names like Premium Red Rose Tea Powder, Dilkhush Ganesh Tea, Red Gulab, and Tulsi Supreme Tea and sold to shops.

Tiwari had not obtained FSSAI permission and license, neither was he maintaining the food safety standards. The chemical used in the adulterated tea powder has been suspected of causing many adverse reactions like Urticaria, asthma, skin rashes, and food intolerance.

The accused person along with the seized materials was handed over to the SHO of Shahinayathgunj police station for further action.