Lipton Tea Products in China

A Greenpeace investigation has found that Lipton, the world’s best-selling tea brand, sold tea bags to Chinese consumers that violated Chinese laws and failed EU safety standards. In March 2012, Greenpeace purchased boxes of Lipton tea produced and sold in China at two Beijing stores. The samples, which included green tea, oolong tea, jasmine tea and black tea, were sent to an independent lab for pesticide residue testing. The testing found that all four Lipton samples contained pesticides that exceeded the EU’s maximum levels of residue. Three samples contained pesticides unapproved by the EU, such as Bifenthrin, which scientists say could negatively affect male hormone production. Some of the detected pesticides are also banned for use in tea production by the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture, including Methomyl, as well as Dicofol and Endosulfan that may affect fertility. Lipton joins the shameful ranks of nine top Chinese tea companies found to be selling tea laced with pesticides.