Loose tea, coffee may have iron flakes, harmful dyes

Manav Mander

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, February 16

A hot cup of tea or coffee unwinds people after a long day of hard work but little do they know that the tea or coffee they are drinking can also be adulterated. Avoid buying loose tea leaves and coffee.

Tea leaves are often adulterated with iron flakes to increase their weight. The chances of adulteration are more if you buy loose tea. Unscrupulous traders collect used tea from tea stalls, dry them in the sun, mix it with coal tar dyes and some amount of genuine tea to give it flavour. This adulterated tea is sold loose.

“Consuming tea which contains fabric dye to give it a colour can lead to cancer. Anything that is adulterated and is not pure is bound to cause a harmful effect on the body,” said a city-based doctor.

Coffee: Coffee which is considered a drink of the elite is even not spared. It is mixed with chicory powder, ground tamarind and date seeds. Ground coffee is mixed with cheap ingredients such as maize, soybean, sugar and acai seed. While these unwanted extras aren’t harmful, they can spoil the quality and taste of the product.

Juices: Experts recommend either extract fresh juice at home or eat the whole fruit as packaged juices may have adulterants. Juices, be it packaged or bought from a nearby juice shop, are not good for health as they are generally loaded with sugar rather than the sweetness of fruit.

The amount of sugar in packaged juices may cause tooth decay in children and may lead to diarrhoea, dysentery, typhoid, jaundice, diabetes, obesity, etc, warn experts.

“Packaged fruit drinks are sweetened beverages with a small percentage of fruit juice (less than 20 per cent) flavors and carbonated water. Fruits and fruit juices contain water, simple carbohydrates, minerals such as calcium and potassium and high amount of vitamin C. In fruit drinks, even 100 per cent juice is not equivalent to raw fruit, which adds fiber and phyto-chemicals to diet,” said Dr Baldeep Singh.

Non-pasteurised juice bought from juice corners are open invitation to serious bacterial, viral and amoebic infections such as diarrhoea, dysentery, typhoid, jaundice, etc. (Concludes)