Concern over Sri Lankan tea
PA Auckland New Zealanders may soon be drinking Indonesian instead of Sri Lankan tea after threats that some Sri Lankan exports were poisoned by Tamil rebels. Reports of the arsenic poisoning had been denied by Sri Lankan authorities but some importers were not taking any chances. Bushells, Ltd, in Australia, which supplies its New Zealand sister company, has suspended Sri Lankan imports. A company spokesman in Auckland said it may be replaced with Indonesian tea in the Bushells blend.
Most importers said the
poisoning threat was nothing more than a scare.
“Tea tasters in Sri Lanka taste 2000 to 3000 caps each day and we check the blend regularly,” said the company secretary of Bushells, Mr Tony McKee, yesterday. Other importers said that they had stocks of Sri Lankan tea imported before the scare and would not need to order more for some time.
Indian newspapers last Friday said Tamil rebels had put arsenic in tea bound for the United States, to damage Sri Lanka’s economy. The rebels are fighting for a separate state in Sri Lanka for the minority Tamil community.
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Press, 11 January 1986, Page 5
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187Concern over Sri Lankan tea Press, 11 January 1986, Page 5
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