FSSAI says staple pins on tea bags can cause health hazards, bans them from January

New Delhi: Food regulator Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has banned use of staple pins in tea bags from January next year as it can cause serious health hazards, its CEO Pawan Agarwal said on Wednesday."We were getting complaints about the use of staple pins in tea bags. If these pins consumed inadvertently with tea, it may cause serious health hazards," he said on the sidelines of a CII conference on health supplements and nutraceuticals sector.Agarwal said the industry has the timelines till January 2018 to replace production line for adhering this order.

As per the FSSAI order, at present, there are two types of tea bags available in the market viz stapled tea bags and knotted tea bags."Use of staple pins in tea bags poses potential hazards to consumers since any loose staple pin consumed inadvertently with tea may cause serious health hazards," FSSAI order said.It directed the food business operators to discontinue the manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import of stapled tea bags on January 2018.Asked about food quality in railways, Agarwal said it is working with Railways authorities to make a robust food safety system.FSSAI's CEO said that the draft regulations of labelling would be issued soon.