Tea leaves from Myanmar recalled

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Snack tainted with chemical dye YANGON - MYANMAR'S Health Ministry on Sunday banned the sale of 57 brands of pickled tea leaves, a popular snack food found to contain a harmful chemical dye.

The state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper announced the ban, saying the chemical Auramine O was detected in the products as part of an ongoing investigation after 43 brands of the snack were banned earlier this month.

The ministry said Auramine O is commonly used to dye cotton, wool, silk and leather and that prolonged consumption of it in food could be harmful to the liver and kidneys and cause cancer.

Pickled tea leaves are widely eaten in Myanmar as a snack with condiments such as fried garlic, peanuts and dried shrimp or with curries and are commonly served at social occasions. The dye gave the snack a brighter yellow color.

'I don't know what's safe and what's not,' said Khin Mar, a 65-year- old housewife in Yangon, Myanmar's largest city. 'I'm worried that we are eating poison everyday.'

A doctor from the Health Ministry's Food and Drug Administration said chemical dyes are widely used in Myanmar in items such as bamboo shoots, chili powder, dried meat, soft drinks, certain beans, popular snacks such as preserved fruits and sometimes in raw fish and seafood. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The production or sale of harmful food is punishable by up to three years in prison, but enforcement is not strict, the doctor said.

A news report last week said 105 food producers have received warnings about using harmful chemicals.

'The problem we're facing now is worse than the impact of melamine- tainted milk powder because chemical dye is used in a lot of food in Myanmar, including junk food and snacks eaten at schools by young children,' said Than Htut Aung, a publisher and editor of several news weeklies in Myanmar.

He called on authorities to take action against those who violate food safety laws. -- AP

Reply to
TBerk
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I am both intrigued and repulsed at the same time... I have seen tea leaves eaten and used in a few different ways in cooking but I hadn't heard of this pickled version. Now my curiosity is piqued but I'd be too afraid of getting a bad batch to try them right now, although the article never mentions the effects of this colorant.

I will never understand the need to artificially color anything. If the flavor is there who cares? I always have (and still do) had a weak spot for cherry Kool-Aid but my mother was never so keen on the massive amount of red food dye so she found that Kool-Aid made "mystery" flavors which were regular flavors but mixed up clear so you had no way to know what flavor it was until you drank it. It was a win- win because I still got my cherry Kool-Aid, she was happier that I wasn't getting pumped full of red dye, and I'd venture to guess it is even cheaper for the manufacturer since there is no dye required. Why wouldn't manufacturers do it? I really don't need unnatural colors to make me drink or eat something, if Mountain Dew's "natural" color was dull and not fluorescent yellow/green I think the same number of people would drink it. Or, like my favorite gummy bear vitamins (yes, I am still a kid at heart) they are colored naturally with dyes made from black carrot, beet, etc. but have no flavor of it just the coloring.

Right now is the perfect time for companies to stop this madness, the eco/health/organic fad that so many are latching onto is exactly the open door for manufacturers to step through to dump the colorings and just give me the product.

- Dominic

Reply to
Dominic T.

Unfortunately its called shelf life. I wonder what the Burma press says about hotdogs. Ive never seen any pickled tea in the stores.

Jim

...shu put out a kimchee fire once...

Reply to
netstuff

Additives for shelf-life I can understand but my assumption was that this was purely a colorant. I can't see how something being fire engine red or neon green improves shelf life over a clear version or a naturally colored one.

- Dominic

Kimchi fires have been known to kill and then the smell lingers for weeks :)

Reply to
Dominic T.

Food colorings are forever.

Jim

Reply to
netstuff

Go to the Mandalay Cafe in Silver Spring, MD, and order the tea leaf salad. They also make their own pickled tea leaves, so you know they are safe there.

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

There is such a thing as fresh tea leaves?

Jim

Reply to
netstuff

Cool, I actually may be in that area fairly soon so I will make a note of it. I actually am making bánh mì tonight and I was going to do a quick pickled carrot to go on it, I may look around the web for a recipe or just experiment myself and do quick pickled carrot and tea leaf on it.

If you've eaten there can you recall anything specific flavor wise about it? Does it seem to be a rice wine vinegar it is pickled in? Sweet? Sour? Salty?

- Dominic

Reply to
Dominic T.

It's pretty good! Try it sometime (when the whole thing bubbles over) if there are any Burmese places near where you live.

w
Reply to
invalid unparseable

Heh, I live a ways outside of Pittsburgh... General Tso's is considered exotic here :) I see the posts of people just strolling around their local Asian markets and buying Puerh and Gaiwans and such and can only dream. I could drive in 2 hours any direction and not have a chance of finding either sadly. I have found some online for sale, but I'd have to say I'm not buying any right now. I did look up the general process of salting and fermenting the leaf and it just seems to involve toasted sesame seeds/nuts, chili, garlic, and the other standards that usually accompany any fermented product. I just wish there was a full recipe or instruction online somewhere. I will certainly try Laphet the next time I see it somewhere or if I'm in MD.

- Dominic

Reply to
Dominic T.

San Diego is a tea wasteland besides the Tea Pavilion in Balboa Park. There were some shoppes listed in the yellow pages with one in a downtown mall plaza. I looked at the plaza directory but didnt see it. I think the others a freeway drive away. The Chinese guy working at the front desk said the last Chinese store closed. I never made it to the Chinese Historical Society to find out why the first California Chinese community left SD. I remember when there were no tea shoppes in SF. Now they seem to be on every block. The best one is an apothecary store. About 50 huge jars with Chinese characters only. Next time Ill bring my camera, get a shot and figure it out later.

Jim

PS Ive had a good tea day when I f> Heh, I live a ways outside of Pittsburgh... General Tso's is

Reply to
netstuff

Now in your grocer's frozen food case: Bird's Eye Meijiawu Ming Qian Long Jing tea leaves.[1]

/Lew

Reply to
Lewis Perin

When I was in Taiwan I would drink tea in a particular teahouse, and then the proprietor would take out spent tea leaves and bake them into cookies, so we ended up eating the leaves we drank. They were great too, and I've been looking for a recipe or years. No one in the States seems to know anything about this, unfortunately.

Reply to
Warren

Ive tossed some beautiful spent leaves on salads.

Jim

Reply to
netstuff

It's very easy to bake tea into things. You can prepare a white cake. As you prepare it, use 2 teabags and brew a pot of tea. Substitue the water in the recipe for the infused tea. And break up the tea bags and add them into the batter. I haven't made that for a long time. But last time, it was pretty good - except it tasted like butter. I guess I added too much butter into the mix.

Reply to
niisonge

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