Tea Board begins certification process for Tripura tea producers

AGARTALA, AUG 3 (PTI): The TBI has initiated the process of providing ‘tea mark certification’ to its producers in Tripura to ensure quality assurance of finished products for consumers, an official said on Monday.
Initially, the certification will be provided to small tea growers and bought-leaf factories to help them market their products in the domestic market with quality assurance, he said.
“As part of ensuring quality, we have started issuing tea mark certification to bought-leaf factories. Basumati Small Tea Growers, a self-help group (SHG) in Sepahijala district that applied for the Tea Board of India (TBI) tag, has been provisionally granted certification. This is the first such case in the northeastern state,” board assistant director, Agartala, Biman Saha told PTI.
He said the TBI would provide certification to eligible tea factories in batches after they fulfil the required criteria.
“If a factory owner applies for the certification, we will collect a sample of a particular batch and send it to the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) in Siliguri for necessary testing. If the test results are positive, we will issue tea mark certification for that batch,” Saha said.
Once the process is complete, the TBI will affix a QR-enabled seal on a particular batch of tea, through which consumers can access details about its origin and other information, he said.
Saha said the certification would help ensure the quality of finished tea in both domestic and international markets and enable producers to get better prices due to increased consumer confidence.
The northeastern state has 54 operational tea estates producing nearly 90 lakh kg of the beverage annually, with over 30,000 people directly dependent on the sector.