Starting a tea business is easy since tea is one of the most widely consumed beverages no matter which side of the globe you are on. Several private label tea manufacturers will be willing to partner with you. You can enjoy an easy journey to business where you get your products sourced from the manufacturers and sell them out to your customers.

However, have you thought about the safety of the products that your customers are consuming that reach them through your hands? The safety of the food products being sold to your consumers is one the most important aspect that needs the careful consideration of any seller.

There are several safety measures in the tea business as well. Let us take a look at what are standard safety precautions that are followed in the manufacture of your tea.

 

Chemicals Use in The Tea Plants

While growing all plants face the danger of getting attacked by pests and diseases. The same goes for the tea plants as well. Tea plants require herbicides, pesticides, bio-pesticides, fungicides, insecticides, and acaricides while growing. Due to this a certain amount of these chemicals might end up in the teacup of the consumers.

Hence, when you get in touch with your tea manufacturer to get your own white label products you can enquire about the chemicals they use and find out whether they fall within the prescribed list of chemicals that can be used for tea plants. While prescribing the use of these chemicals the legal authorities do a detailed check on whether they pass all the parameters of safety. Only buy your private label products from the manufacturers who can show you a report on the chemicals that are being used on the plants before you make any deal with them.

 

Hygiene of Tea Pluckers

Tea leaf pluckers are an important workforce that harvests the tea leaves that eventually reach you. This makes the health of this workforce a very important factor in maintaining the hygiene of the tea leaves. The tea pluckers are required to maintain a basic standard of cleanliness and sanitation. Confirming this might require you to visit the tea farm personally once, but it is well worth the effort. The sanitary condition of the tea plant can also be an important marketing strategy when targeted at the health-conscious consumer.

 

Hygiene in Manufacturing

The tea manufacturing process has 6 steps; plucking, withering, rolling, fermentation, drying, and grading. Plucking is the very first step where the leaves are plucked from the tea plants. They are then put into troughs where the surface moisture of the leaves is dried and the tea juices are brought to the surface. They are taken to the rolling machines where the leaves are broken into small pieces and rolled to form the small tea leaf balls that we see in our packet. Following this they are fermented. In this process, the rolled tea leaves are oxidized to bring out their natural flavors. The fermented rolled leaves contain about 50% water. Due to this, the leaves are then taken for drying where the moisture is completely dried out and the fermentation is arrested so that the leaves remain in their fermented state and do not get too oxidized. The final process, grading, is where the rolled leaves are graded according to their size and shapes and put into different categories to be sold.

As you can see, the making of your precious tea flavors is a layered process and requires to be passed from one process to another.  This means that at any of these steps if the standard sanitation is not maintained the final product is bound to receive significant damage and will hence have a decrease in quality. You need to understand these procedures and gain exposure to what kind of standards your manufacturer is maintaining.

Watch this link  Tea Factory | Tea manufacturing process in Hindi with subtitles – Yethai Tea - YouTube 

 

Factory Employee Hygiene

Tea leaves are handled by the factory employees at all stages. Thus, the hygiene of these people must be maintained. An issue in the sanitary conditions of the employee can lead to the infections being passed on.

 

Food Safety During Transportation

It is impertinent to regularly check how the vehicles transporting the packets of tea leaves handle the goods. The vehicles also need to be clean and sanitized so that no infection can reach tea products. The final product that reaches your customers must be clean, safe, and hygienic. White label companies often have their own transporters and you can check with them every once in a while, to ensure hygiene conditions.

 

Cleanliness of Machines

The machines used in tea manufacturing are to be clean as well. They need to be cleaned at regular intervals. Machines often require lubrication and greasing to work properly. This makes it important for the staff to ensure that no lubrication is flowing out of the machines and ending in the tea leaves at any step.

 

Safety During Processing and Packaging

While packaging and processing there are chances that foreign materials, that do not belong to tea, might end up in a tea packet! To ensure that no foreign materials are mixed with the tea leaves, precautionary measures will have to implemented. Food safety system should be implemented in every process. As a buyer of white labeled tea, do ensure this, to keep yourself safe.

 

Storage Area Cleanliness

The space where the tea leaves are stored also needs to be a clean and sanitized. It cannot be a damp area that will damage the moisture level of the tea leaves. It also needs to be free of small animals and insects that can cause damage to the product. The storage area needs to be cleaned regularly to warrant the hygiene claims that the manufacturer makes.

 

Grade of Packing Materials

The packets in which the tea leaves are exported need to be food-grade. Any other type of packaging will damage the tea leaves and will give you infected and/or the overall quality will get affected. Generally, tea leaves are packed in food-grade plastic before they are transported out of the tea leaves manufacturing plant.

 

Keeping a strict check on the above-mentioned factors can help you, and your customers, avoid foodborne illnesses. As a private brand maintaining standard hygiene while selling food products is very important not only to gain loyal customers but also because of the legalities and food laws involved.

Thus, before you start selling your own label products to your customers, ask yourself the question of whether the product is safe. You need to be absolutely sure that your manufacturer is abiding by all the food laws. Maintenance of all the standards is an important factor for the success of your tea business!

You would be wondering how much time would this take to identify the right tea supplier. We at Yethai Tea would not only guarantee you good quality tea but also hygiene. You will be assured that you are with the right tea manufacturer if you get associated with us